A Little Bit of Complication
by SimplyIsabelleS
Summary: Natsu carelessly burgles into Lucy's flat - as always. But he ends up seeing her naked, and that is the start of his worries, because there is something's changing. He begins to behave strangely... Lucy is confused and blue. The one to comfort her is Gray - and that's where the startling situation starts. NaLu, but more GraLu!
1. Chapter 1

Lucy just got to her flat after one of the most tiring missions she had ever gone to on her own. Totally worn out, she entered the house and did not even turn on the light. She only walked slowly to the bathroom, there she switched on the lamps and turned away from it. The girl threw her bag on the bed across the room. Telling from the sound, it reached its destination.

The next were those long boots, which she took off with a pleasure. After walking and running for so much time the high heels made her feet feel terrible. Lucy sighed when she made a first step barefoot. What a relief!

The Celestial Spirit mage ran her fingers through her hair, taking off a violet hairband. Lucy did a spin, feeling happy. She finally had some time for herself! All alone, within her dark, cozy room. Now that she paid her rent, there was no reason for the lessor woman to come here and check on her.

Humming, the girl approached the bed and opened her bag. There was a small bottle of jasmine water, which was her favorite. It was quite expensive, though, but after the payment from the mission and within the prize for the good job done Lucy could have afforded such a thing. She opened the bottle and took a huge swig.

- Mm… – she mumbled.

Oh, yeah. It was also Natsu's favorite water. Well, in fact, the only water Natsu wanted to try, because he was always setting his mind on hating the natural opposite of the fire. The water could lower down his power, he said. Lucy could have understood it, but he was always so stubborn when it came to getting some knowledge that she was no longer sure whether those things he'd been telling her recently were true or not…

Still, she left half of it for her best friend. He would do the same for her, she thought with a smile.

Lucy decided that it was late enough to have a bath, so she got up and started stripping. A violet shirt with an elaborated bra landed on the bed where she was sitting a minute ago, and the same goes with the skirt. Just in the panties, she took a towel and went to the bathroom, closing the door with a loud SLAP.

* * *

Natsu and Happy went straight home after the mission. That was their first job without Lucy since she joined Fairy Tail, who chose the other one, more girl-for. So they parted this time. But it was not the same without the girl's annoying or stupid comments, her enthusiasm and complaining. Even Happy was not the same – how could he be slating only Natsu all the time? It was more fun with slating Lucy, because she was so picky.

- So, what are we gonna do now? – asked Happy.

- What do you think? We go to sleep and tomorrow we go to the guild, right? – said Natsu, yawning.

- How about going to Lucy? – giggled the cat.

- Oi! Great idea, Happy! We will surprise her!

- Aye! Or really scare her.

They both grinned at each other and hurried towards their friend's house.

Of course, they couldn't have used the door, so they both climbed (okay, Happy flew) on her window and sneaked inside. There was no light and Natsu felt a bit confused.

- She hasn't returned yet?

- Seems like it – he scratched his chin and smiled – So we have to wait. And we turn to plan B.

- What's plan B, Natsu? – asked Happy.

- Scaring her to death when she comes in!

- Aye!

He made himself comfortable on the armchair standing in the corner of Lucy's room. Happy sat next to him. There was not much thinking in their heads, for the cat was dreaming about a delicious fish he was supposed to eat tomorrow, and meeting Carla. For Natsu, though, he was remembering his childhood with Igneel, and how crazy happy he was right then, living with a dragon.

- Oi, Natsu! – he felt Happy's paw on his hand – Lucy's coming!

Hm, he must have gone too deep into the memories, because he never paid attention on the door, which were moving, indeed. The moment later Lucy herself walked into the room. He prepared himself for jumping, but waited till the time was best.

Lucy suddenly went into the bathroom and turned the lights on there. He was afraid that they would be uncovered, but she did not even realize that they were sitting beside. The girl sat down on the bed and drank something – by the smell he could tell it was jasmine water. She drank half of it – and left the rest. He felt warmth when he realized it was probably left for him.

But then she started stripping. He froze, Happy started to giggle without making any sound, so he tapped him so that the cat fell on the floor, still laughing. Sure, he saw her many times in _really_ skimpy clothes, and in the bikinis, but it was something else, like… This time it was more intimate. Natsu swallowed, and tried not to look at Lucy, but just couldn't look away as she was stripping. She crossed the room and got into the bath, and Happy finally got up on the armchair again.

- Hey, Natsu, what's with that face? – laughed the blue cat.

- W-what?

- You are _blushing_?!

- N-no, I'm…

- Natsu! You are blushing – giggled Happy – Well, you know, I never knew that Lucy was that kind of friend for you…

- Um, no! No, it's not…!

The boy got abruptly angry and broke into standing. Unfortunately, he bumped into the table where the vase with a flower was standing and the thing fell. A loud sound of breaking glass reached his ears, and Natsu said out loud:

- Oh, shit.

- What's that?! – he heard from the bathroom.

- We must go NOW – he screamed to Happy, and they jumped out of the flat through the window they got inside.

* * *

Lucy heard a breaking sound and got scared. What if there were burglars? Just when she was tired and in the bath… Great timing.

But then she heard Natsu's voice and Happy's giggling, and she got seriously mad. They broke into her house again?! And, wait… She hadn't heard any sound of their coming, which meant…

- Natsu, Happy, you idiots! How long have you been there and how much did you… _See_?! – she cried, running out of the bathroom in a towel.

Just in time to see the chaotic duo using her window as the door. Lucy looked down on the remaining of her vase next to the armchair and grinded her teeth. So they must have been here from the beginning.

Lucy, feeling helpless and rather strange, ran to the opened window and yelled as loud as she could have done so:

- Natsu, you idiooooot! – which was the only thing she could do right then.

* * *

**Hey, it's just another NaLu story. It was supposed to be a One Shot, but I think I will write two or three more chapters ;)**

**Review? ;) it really matters to me!**

**Huh, the idea just came and I had to make it happen:)**

**Cheers!**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Fairy Tail… Huh. I never owned it, and I will never do.**_

* * *

The sun rose above the horizon and slowly folded whole Magnolia, waking up the citizens. One of them, though, was not sleeping. And yes, it was our action hero, Lucy Heartfilia. She was sitting in the window, looking at the peaceful streets and thinking hard with frown eyebrows.

It had been five days since that evening her best friend and Happy had burgled into her flat. Lucy wanted to catch them the next day to raise hell and try – once again – to explain to them why an intrude to one's home is _wrong_. But Natsu had been behaving somewhat differently… She noticed that without much effort, Lucy had always been quite perceptive. Of course, he constantly acted like an idiot, but her best friend started to avoid her, talk to her with half-words and, above all, he started thinking. Yeah, Natsu was actually _contemplating_ something. Strange enough. And then Happy came to her – _alone_, which is the next odd thing that happened – and told Lucy they were going on a mission. Without her.

Of course. It had happened many times before they formed a team that those two had been going on a mission alone… Yes. Exactly. _Before_ they became the team. Later they had always been together. Lucy smirked, when she remembered that time she had gone on her own to rescue her father. Not only the whole team had followed her – besides, they really have good timing, coming when everything was over – but Natsu had been treating her like a naughty child. And right then…

- That hypocrite! Idiot, making me worried like this… – Lucy threw those words out in the air, leaning her chin on the palms.

And that was exactly what she felt – worry. Natsu was acting strange. And she was not a Heartfilia's daughter if she would not try to find out what was his problem.

* * *

- Ne, Natsu, are we not going back? – asked Happy, tired from flying all day and helping his friend around.

- We are… But I need to think something over – answered the Dragon Slayer, playing with a blade of grass.

- Does it concern Lucy? – Happy moved closer to Natsu – Is this why we abandoned her, although we are a team?

- We didn't _abandon_ her, Happy – said Natsu sharply – We just… Went on a mission without her, because… Well…

- I know what you told me: to rest from her. But I don't believe it – the blue Exceed nodded – You're a liar, Natsu.

The mage did not answer, looking down at his hands. He still felt confused and was clearly unsure of the feelings he discovered in himself nearly a week ago. Natsu knew that Happy was right when he mentioned running away form the blonde. He had run away, but not from Lucy… Or not literally. The pinkhead shook his head. Such a creepy state, the one he was in right then. He felt cheerful yet distressed, so light… and the next moment heavy and fixed to the ground.

- Natsu – tried Happy again, but the mage gave him a deep and hard sigh. At first the cat goggled, then laughed and said, rolling his tongue the way Lucy hated the most – You llllllllllike her!

- Happy! – cried Natsu, sitting straight. The ascertainment of the Exceed was that abrupt and shocking that he almost jumped – R-rubbish!

Oh, really. Rubbish, he said. But _why_ the hell was he blushing, and on top of that, why was there an unpleasant overturn inside of his stomach? Natsu caught his head and yelled out loud, tousling his hair. Some fire broke away of his mouth and a tree nearby started to burn. He did not pay any attention to it and just collapsed on his knees, his head lowered.

- I don't know anymore – he whispered to Happy, who was silently sitting nearby and looking at his best friend.

- I think you do, Natsu – the Exceed crawled closer – And I think you know that, too.

* * *

The sun was much higher that it was when we last visited Lucy's perspective. Right then she was going to the guild to talk to Mirajane, who was the eyes and ears of the guild. And was being considered the one who knew about every problem or love interest of the members. The blonde remembered how a long time ago Mira had asked Bisca about the date of wedding, out of blue. Bisca, who had been drinking something, had choked and had twisted her head around to look at Mira, who had been standing with a kind smile and closed eyes.

_- Wed… WHAT?!_

_- Oh, you know, you don't have to hide it – Mira had waved her hand – Everyone knows about that you like him, right?_

_Lucy, Juvia and Erza, who had been standing abreast, had looked at each other and ad answered:_

_- Er… We were just wondering…_

_- You know, Bisca, I always thought…_

_- Juvia isn't here for too long, but it seemed that you have a thing for each other…_

_Bisca had shrieked and had hidden her face in the hands, her cheeks as red as Erza's hair. Lucy had felt suddenly sorry for the woman, obviously teased by the model. But Mira had looked quite astonished._

_- Really? No was, Bisca! I'm so sorry, I thought it was so obvious…_

_- No, Mira. It's not!_

Then Lucy's mouth corner went a bit up in a smile. But Mira had been right. Right then, Bisca and Alzack were a marriage (although Mira had made a huge fuss out of it, and for a week she had been chastening the greenhead that they married while the half of the guild was gone) and, what is more, they had a cute child named Asuka.

The girl entered Fairy Tail's building, panting. Seriously, when the guild was moved onto that hill above Magnolia it was hard to come quickly there. And Lucy had a long road across the whole town; the previous guild had been located next to her rented flat – where she was still living.

- Ah, welcome, Lucy! – Mirajane smiled at her at once.

- Good morning, Mira-san – said the blonde and waved at Levy, who was sitting with Gajeel and discussing something vividly. For a moment she stopped and smiled at Lucy, but then the blunette went back to discussion – Can I talk to you? About… Natsu?

- Of course – Mirajane's eyes twinkled, but Lucy did not notice.

- Well, you see… – Lucy started, looking down and feeling ashamed – I don't understand why Natsu is behaving like that…

- Like what?

- Like… He's mad at me! He stopped talking to me, Happy came alone and told me they're going on a mission _alone_, and… And… I know it's going to sound really creepy, but they haven't burgled into my apartment for a while – the blonde got it off her chest – I don't remember doing something to them, and…

- Did anything happen? When did it start?

- Well, you see… Seems like it's started after the night they were in my flat… And I _think_ they saw me getting undressed and going to take a bath… Ah! That was _horrible_ – she shivered and got a bit redder on the cheeks.

- Oi, I understand now – Mirajane smiled, and her eyes twinkled again – I think it's one of those. First option, Natsu is embarrassed of what happened and doesn't know how to apologize… And also is somewhat amazed, because I believe it was the first time he saw a woman naked…

- That sounds million times worse when you're saying it – complained Lucy, shaking her head – Also, it doesn't sound like Natsu at all. And what's the second option?

- Yes, I agree. And secondly, it may be because he finally found out and admitted to himself he likes you! – finished the whitehead with an outstanding smile, looking proud of herself.

Lucy stopped breathing for a moment. It looked like it was even worse option, and more unrealistic, than the first one, about the concerned-something Natsu. She contemplated it for a moment, remembering their moments together and forced herself not to smile in order not to upset Mirajane.

- Mira-san… I think we had a conversation like this before, and it was a complete fiasco, after all – said Lucy cautiously.

- But he matured, and you spend so much time together – disagreed Mira – He must have finally realized that's it!

- Well, thanks. I feel a bit better now – Lucy lied to cut it out, and went away. She saw Gray sitting alone at the table, so she joined him, believing it was better not to stay alone right then.

- Hi, Gray!

- Hello, Lucy. How are you? Where is Natsu?

- Why, just why do you always have to ask 'bout him?! All of you! – the blonde could not help it but hit the table desk in anger.

- Oi, sorry – Gray glared at her, shocked – Did you guys have a fight or what?

- Why?

- Both of you are really picky about each other… I asked Natsu when he was going on a job how long the three of you will be absent… He glared at me, asked: _three?_ and ran away.

- Ough – wheezed the girl – What's wrong with him?!

- Lucy, easy – Gray winked at her, smiling – You have other people who can accompany you, right? For example, me… If you feel lonely, you can always come and tell me. We'll figure something out.

- Thank you, Gray – Lucy said with tears of gratitude in her eyes, and hugged him lightly – But I think I will go for now. I'll find you later.

- Then let's say… This evening and a friend drink? I see we need to talk about your problem. 8pm? I'll pick you up – the boy proposed, and she had to smile. Goodness, just how good he knew her!

- You're sweet. Okay. You can take anybody you like.

Gray sighed and looked at the blonde walking out of the Fairy Tail guild's building.

The Stellar Spirits mage was waiting for Gray to pick her up. Probably they were going to visit a pub in the outskirts of Magnolia. She liked that place very much, and the whole idea of going somewhere with Gray seemed to her a good idea. She finally would be able to talk with somebody _normal_ – she did not consider Mirajane as one, no matter how beautiful or lovable she was. In fact, Lucy did not expect Erza or Juvia or even Wendy to come as well… The blonde smirked. She imagined Juvia when she'd find out abut this meeting – she would sink the whole guild and later kill Lucy, for sure. Although that woman had nothing to worry about, geez…

* * *

At 8pm the doorbell rand and the mage opened the door. Gray was standing there, dressed normally, which means in his cool style. T-shirt, too big trousers and sneakers. Lucy smiled and closed the door, asking:

- So, where are we going?

- I was thinking about the pub, but it's so loud there – he answered, going after her on the stairs – So what about the restaurant a bit further? It's not expensive.

- Mhm, okay, haven't eaten yet – she said.

_Ah, it's so nice_, Lucy thought to herself. It really was a pleasant change, to laugh normally and forget about the strange, rude behavior of the Fire mage. _Funny_, she told herself, _but I feel really at ease with Gray._ They reached the restaurant. When they walked in, a waiter – _what was his name again… Hiro? Hira?_ - sat them down and waited patiently for them to order things from menu.

Gray and Lucy had a great evening together. Eating the food the ordered – which turned out to be very good – did not interrupt their conversation and laughter. _Really, I could get used to it_, sighed in her thoughts Lucy. Especially when Gray was not trying to push her on talking about Natsu or any other worries. He's been waiting for Lucy herself to start the topic. And the brunet was When the delightful dessert was finished, she told Gray everything that upset her.

- And that's it.

- What an idiot – the Ice mage rolled his eyes – And he didn't say anything since then?

- Nothing.

- Eh, Lucy – Gray smiled while shaking his head – You don't have luck with boys, do ya?

- What? Nooo, don't tell me… - the summoner moaned.

- I think that _yes_, he likes you.

For some reason, as Lucy noticed, he seemed annoyed. She blamed it on the situation and the typical girl talk he had to handle with her and continued:

- But what am I to do? I don't want to ruin our friendship, but… I don't feel the same 'about him – she confessed, staring above Gray's arm. She felt the blood hitting her cheeks, first the left one, then the other. _Damn, it was pretty hard to say that out loud. Even to another guy_.

- Y-you don't? – this time the Ice mage sounded completely surprised, like she said she had seen aliens in her garden, which was treated as an obvious lie.

- Wait a sec – Lucy opened her mouth in disbelief – You thought that I felt something more for that immature, careless, strange, moody guy?! Who do you think I am?!

- Hey, Luce, easy – Gray lifted his palms and placed them in the air in front of himself in a defending manner – I never said anything about you loving him or anything… I just repeat the rumors from the guild.

- Mirajane – she hissed, squinting.

Lucy felt quite shocked and hurt. She understood that people may have associate her with Natsu since they were job partners, but to call it a more advanced relationship was a huge exaggeration. The Fire mage was cute – but only considering him as a _nakama_ or a brother. And what was she supposed to do with that? If Mira-san and Gray were not mistaken, there was no other way than isolating herself. Separated missions, locking the window to her apartment, even staying with Gray in the free time, or with Levy. Well, I could handle it, the blonde judged, looking at her friend across the table who was sitting with his chin leant on one arm on the table. He smiled at her.

- You okay?

- Yes. I just decided on something – Lucy cleaned her throat. _Juvia is gonna kill me for this_. – And I was wondering… Do you want to go on the next mission with me? Of course, I'm not the best fighter, but I can deal with other things…

- Wait – the boy rounded his eyes – You mean… You wanna go on a mission with me?

- Is something wrong with that? – the blonde felt her confidence flying away.

- Ya know, I don't wanna be a replacement or something…

- You aren't – she sighed and smiled at him – So?

Gray scrutinized her and opened his mouth to answer, but at that moment the waiter came to take the plates and ask if they needed anything more. Both of them thanked and Gray asked for the bill. Lucy reached her bag to find a wallet, but the brunet stopped her.

- It's my treat, Lucy.

- No! I cannot let you pay for everything I've eaten… Gray, you don't have to…

- I insist.

Lucy stopped complaining and agreed with a nod. _A real gentleman, oh, yes, he was_. They – or rather he paid – and left the restaurant. Gray started making jokes and it continued until they stopped under Lucy's flat.

- That you so much for cheering me up, and the dinner, and everything – the summoner said with a big smile, which the boy found quite beautiful.

- No problem, always at your service. Oh! And, about the mission… Sure, come with me.

He raised his hand and tousled her hair. Lucy laughed, climbed on the toes and kissed her friend on the cheek, then turned around and walked into the building. Gray felt that the place her lips touched was burning, and a moment later his all face became like on fire. _Damn it_, he thought, _why am I reacting like that? She's just my friend_. The Ice mage shook his head and walked away into his own direction.

At the same time the summoner was happily opening her flat door and switching on the light. First thing she did was raking the apartment, but there was not a single suspicious thing. The flat was empty. Relieved, Lucy went to the bathroom and destroyed to the end her nicely done hair with her fingers. Gray was such a great friend, and made her feels so much better. The smile he was giving her was so relaxing and comforting, not to mention he looked simply handso…

Wait. She shouldn't have been thinking like that. Gray was her friend… _So comforting_… Her nakama!... _Yes, and he has such a beautiful voice_… He was handsome, sure… _Of course!_... He was nice… _What's nice in him is his hot body_… And strong… _And I like that_…

Sweet Edolas. What on Earth was she thinking? Lucy almost laughed hysterically. And she was to spend more time with her Ice friend… Yeah. She must have controlled her thoughts more. Definitely.

* * *

_**So the whole concept changed. I decided to make the story different, and – because poor Gray's suffering so much in my other stories – to make Natsu learn something out of unrequited love. Hahaha 3:) I'm simply horrible.**_

_**I started writing a second Jerza story. I believe that one is the most deliberated story I've written up till now.**_

_**Thanks for reading!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Fairy Tail – not my invention. Only that Fic you're going to read (or not, ha-ha-ha...)**_

* * *

Gray came, as promised, to Lucy's apartment a day after their dinner with one of the fliers from the guild. She was already dressed up and was writing a letter to her mother, when the door opened after two knocks. The pen in her hand stopped moving and the blonde turned around on a chair just to view Gray, standing there with a smile.

'Yo! I came with a proposition of a job for us. Wanna take a look?'

'S-sure. Thanks for coming' Lucy nodded and smiled as well, a little shyly. And, moreover, he even had _knocked_ – it was probably the first time ever in his life. Wow. Impressive. She moved into his direction, looking at the colorful piece of paper with interest. 'So, what's it?'

'Oh, right. So I decided that jobs with any cosplay things and pretending to be a maid are excluded…' he smirked, sitting on a bed. 'What's more, since fighting is not your thing… But I don't get it, you've always been in the middle of fights. With all of us! And even once you killed it, defeating a whole dark guild alone…' Gray smiled, winking at her.

Lucy waved her hand, slanting over the flier and giving a boy quite a nice view. 'Oh, stop it, will you? I did it for my dad, you know that!'

'Still ,you _did _it' the brunet looked at the advertisement and added 'but I chose a job for a more brainy person. And the reward is quite high. And I'll have some fun, too.'

Lucy took the paper and sat next to him. Fist of all, she read that the job was to go to another town in order to get specific instructions about the very mission. Well, at least there was truly written that only brave and brainy people were needed. Gray was not lying. Secondly, Lucy's eyes moved down at the numbers in a frame which were attracting her attention from the beginning but did not read it carefully. That was why she gasped in disbelief.

'WHAAAT?! 40.000 yen?! Goodness, Gray! What the hell is that job about?'

'If only I knew it... But don't ya think it's worth checking out?' he added, as he was watching the blonde's reaction, which was simply _adorable_. The way she started jumping in one place over reading the flier, also the face she made and those big blue eyes of hers… It was just too damn cute. _Damn, shut the hell up!_, he thought.

'Oh, sure it is! Thank you so much for bringing it here. Love it. So, when do we go?' she sat next to him on a bed again, jumping on a mattress. Her eyes, wide open, were staring at the boy with a flash in them. Gray, blushing a little, cleared his throat and answered:

'Soon, I suppose… Well. Meet me in two hours at the train station. 'kay with you?'

'Yeah. Totally' Lucy clapped her hands and sprang up to make a spin. The brunet laughed. That was just lovable.

'Then, see ya then' Gray sighed and stood up.

'Oh, going already?' she stopped in the middle of the room, looking at him with a hesitation.

'I need to prepare myself. You know, pack the stuff… Eat something…' Gray shrugged his shoulders, trying not to look like he really wanted to stay with the girl. And, hell, he did.

Lucy nodded. After all, they were going to spend some time together and she would have plenty of time to enjoy his companion. 'Sure. See you, Gray.'

Then she watched him take a leave, staying at the same spot. The blonde shook her head. Was she thinking too much, or her friend had been acting a bit unnaturally today? Probably he himself had not seen it, but Lucy, as a woman and over-perceptive human clearly saw it. _Nah. Probably just imagining things. There's no reason for him to act strange… Is it?_

* * *

Meanwhile, Natsu finally came back to the guild. He was hardly answering all the _hello's_ and _hi's_ from friends, just going straight to his usual table.

During those days on a mission with the Exceed he had been thinking about That Lucy Matter, which he had called TLM in short – also in conspiracy when he was talking in public with Happy about it. He turned gloomy and silent, even Juvia in her bad moods was more fun and cheery than him. The rumination gave him no answers, which only made him even angrier and more lost.

Since he had entered the guild, Mirajane had been watching him stealthily. When Natsu sat down and laid his pink head on the desk, she stood up and readjusted her dress. That was high time she had interfered the whole thing. Mirajane walked closer to the mage, and nodded at Happy who was sitting next to his best friend, eating a fish. 'Umm… Hi, Natsu.'

'Wha? Ah. Hi, Mira' Natsu rose his head, not even trying to smile. "What's up?'

'I recon your job went well. Can I… sit with you for a moment?' she asked nicely.

'Sure. Why not'

'Natsu.' Mirajane's tone of voice changed. It hardened as she looked at his posture. 'Why are you in such a state? Do you worry about Lucy?'

'What?! How do you know?!' the Fire mage jumped and straightened his back, staring at the white-headed girl in front of him.

'Just guessing. She was pretty pissed off, you know. When you left her behind, even though you're one team'

'Nah. That's not it. I just… Had to think about… Something…'

'Oh, really? And, of course, it concerns Lucy as well?'

'Well, yeah..'

'And instead of talking straight to her or simply explaining that you need 'man' time with Happy, or making _any other excuse_ you sent the cat to tell her you're going' the woman was almost hissing, her eyes were squinted and were ranting and raving at him. The boy swallowed saliva out loud.

'Y-yeah… I guess we did… Did she come to you?'

'No, I asked her personally since she was pissed and obviously down'

'She was?' Natsu spaced out, knitting brows. _Dammit_. He had made Lucy sad again. 'So, what do you expect me to do?'

'Surely, you will go to her and apologize!' she said sweetly, and added with a dangerous blink in her eyes 'won't you?'

'S-sure I will! Right, Happy?' Natsu squealed. Goodness. Mirajane looked right then so like Erza – _scary_...

'Aye, sir!' said Happy, standing up and holding his paw in the air.

'I-I will take my leave, then! Bye, Mira!'

At first, the Fire mage left the building, not planning on going to his friend's house. Why would he go and apologize? And, what was more, he was a little afraid of facing the girl… But he could not admit it, even to himself. On the other hand, what Mirajane had said made him wonder if paying Lucy a visit was not the only solution left. _I already miss her like crazy, huh?_, he thought, kicking a stone.

'Natsu…' said Happy quietly, looking at the pinkhead.

'Geez. I guess we must go to Lucy if we want to live at least one day longer' he sighed, putting hands into pockets. 'Right?'

'Aye! I think Lucy will be happy' the Exceed smiled and flew higher.

'Yup. Come on, then! The last one is a rotten egg!'

* * *

_Ohh, wait, did I take everything? Why am I so nervous, anyway…_ Lucy was running in her flat, packing the most important things to take. _Oh, right_. Maybe because she was going on a mission with Gra e. That wouldn't be anything strange or embarrassing. All in all, they were very good friends. But… Yes, that was worth pointing out. To start with, uh, she found out a day before that she was subconsciously attracted to the guy. And started behaving strangely and like she was feeling uncomfortable around him, which was definitely true. But he did not have to know it, seriously. Not yet, at least! Oh, and in addition, if Juvia found out about Lucy's alone mission with her precious Gray-sama, that stalker girl would definitely kill her at once. Great perspectives. No comment.

On the contrary, the Celestial Spirit mage was really happy to go only with Gray. Even if she would have to face the consequences later. Lucy put the last thing, her keys, on their proper place and looked around. Yeah, there was nothing more. And if she did not want to be late for the train…

_BOOM_. The girl turned around in a blink of eye.

'Hi, Luce' said the intruder, sitting on a window still. Natsu appeared to her a bit abashed and insecure. 'How are you?'

The Summoner, who had crossed her arms at first, now walked speedily to him and slapped him in the face as hard as she could have. Natsu fell from the window onto her bed, holding his cheek. 'You complete _idiot_! You think that coming after two weeks of ignoring me, and even leaving me behind is good enough, and now asking if I' is that simple?!'

'Oi, Lucy, calm down! What's the matter' the pinkhead murmured, sitting on the bed and glaring at her with annoyance.

'_What's the matter_, he asks! Just perfect. You know what? I have no time for a jerk like you, Natsu. I have a business, I'm gonna be late.'

'What? W-where are you going?' the boy stammered.

'Where? Fine, I'll tell you _where_. On a mission. With Gray' Lucy shouldered her bag and turned around, going to the door. 'Would you mind using the window again, I'm locking the door. See ya.'

'Wait, Luce…!'

But the girl slammed the door after her, and locked them. Natsu stood still, staring at the place where the girl had been standing a moment ago. That moment Happy flew inside with a sad expression on his face.

'That didn't go well…'

'Hell no' said Natsu, then his palms formed fists in anger. 'That bastard…! Gray, you asshole!'

* * *

Gray was waiting under the roof on the train platform. The sun was getting on his nerves, he really preferred when it was colder. He checked the time. Lucy still had ten minutes to come.

Maybe the blonde was the reason he was feeling awkward towards the whole mission. Sure, he needed money, of course he wanted to go on a job with his friend, but… It was Lucy. Lucy, who he was somewhat interested from the beginning. _**(*author's note* remember what Gemini said in the Nirvana arc?;)**_ Until right then it only burgeoned. And not only her looks, which were smoking, were attracting him to her. No. At the beginning of their friendship her character was annoying. She was silly, impulsive, full of herself and sometimes greedy. Up till then she changed so much. For Gray she was cute with her girly, spontaneous reactions, with the smile of an angel and that extraordinary ponytail on the side of her head.

The Ice mage smiled to himself. _Yeah. This is gonna be a great time to settle his thoughts and clear everything up._ Only then he would eventually decide on doing anything with that matter.

'S-sorry. Have you been waiting for a long time?' Lucy arose out of nowhere in front of him, catching him off his guard.

'Oh! No, not at all. We're going?' the boy smiled and eyed her up. Lucy was wearing a miniskirt and a top with no shoulder-straps. Gray bit his bottom lip. He should have been used to her dressing manners, but it caused his cheeks to turn red. He rolled his eyes, and saw the blonde giggle. 'W-what?'

'Nothing, Gray. Let's go.'

They stepped into the train and found a place to sit. In another five minutes the train was going north. They were talking smoothly, and laughing out loud. Suddenly, Lucy yawned.

'You didn't get enough sleep, huh?' asked Gray, looking at her with worry.

'Nah. I was too busy thinking about…' Lucy blushed like crazy 'Emm. Stuff…'

'What kind of stuff?' he asked softly, almost whispering to her ear. _Damn, I should back off_.

'N-not important. Really. I'll tell you later, maybe' she winked at him and turned her head to glare through the window to hide her scarlet cheeks. Gray sighed and the small excitement disappeared. It was not ten minutes, though, when he felt the scent of her shampoo getting stronger and more intensive. The Ice mage did not even have time to turn his head, because Lucy's blonde fuzz rested on his shoulder.

'L-l… Lucy?'

There was no answer. Gray sighed heavily. So that was it. The girl fell asleep on him. He moved slowly closer and let her lean against his whole side. The girl's warmth was soothing and the brunet premised his head on hers, listening to her breath and trying to control the rhythm of his own heart. _That… Feels reeeeally good._

* * *

_**Sorry for the horrible updating break. Also, this chapt is a bit lame because I am planning a better thing in the next one. Just you wait:)**_

_**Thank you so much for every review, means a lot to me ^^**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Fairy Tail is totally a masterpiece of a genius, so it´s obvious I don´t own anything.**

* * *

'Hey, Lucy, Wake up, we're here' a few hours later Gray shook his shoulder on which there was asleep Lucy.

'Y-yes, whashapnin'' she murmured, taking her head off him and yawning. 'Did I miss something?'

'Not yet, but if you don't hurry up, we'll be going back to Magnolia' answered Gary and stood up, massaging his numb shoulder. 'Come on, Lucy.'

'Yeah, yeah. Comin' she said and also got on her feet.

The Fairy Tail wizards went out of the train and looked around. The town was small and seemed rather abandoned. There were no people around, even the train platform was empty – excluding them and one drunk guy sitting on a bench. They exchanged interrogative looks. 'So' started Gray. 'Are we going? I think it won't be too hard finding the house…'

'S-sure' Lucy cleared her throat and they started walking. There were many ruined flats with no windows or they were simply jerkwatered. 'Where the hell are we?'

'No idea, but look' the boy pointed his hand at something. She followed it with her sight and raised her elbows. A few meters away there was an outstanding manor, perfectly looked-after, with a huge garden and many sculptures.

'It reminds me of my own home…' gasped Lucy. 'Look, even the alleys are similar, and the plants…'

'Oi, I don't know 'bout that stuff, Luce' he mumbled and rolled his eyes. Then he looked at the girl and found her in amazement, with eyes wide open. Her cheeks flushed a little, her body bent over. Gray found this view quite bonny. 'Lucy?'

'Sorry. I'm okay now' she shook her head and with a strange face came closer to her partner, catching his arm.

Gray gulped and turned away his head to hide flush on his face. _I behave like a teenager in love_, he thought with distaste. He put his hands in the pockets and bounced to the manor. Lucy followed, walking half of the step behind him.

She felt uneasy. She could not tell what made her so insecure, but the more she was looking at the scenery, the more things she found too familiar. But there was just no way she could have been here before, could it? Then why did all those things look so recognizable… And similar to her own, old family's concern? But what was that dreadful feeling of hurt and anger?

'Are you all right?' Lucy heard Gray asking and when she rose her eyes on him, she gasped in astonish. She did not expect his face to be so close. A slight blush entered her cheeks.

'Ye… Um, no.' she answered, sighing.

'What's wrong?' he knew exactly there was something not right.

'I don't really know' the blonde trembled and he came closer to hug her. She was surprised, she even started opening her mouth to ask about his unexpectedly warm reaction but decided that telling him what was going on was much more important right then. 'Everything seems familiar, like I've seen it someday…'

'You said it's because of the similarity to your home, right?'

'That's not it' Lucy shook her head and escaped from his embrace, embarrassed. She tried not to look at the guy at that moment. His hug was surprisingly warm – she had expected it to be rather ice-cold or something like that, as of the Ice mage. Moreover, it was not unpleasant. It was definitely something that made her feel braver and safer, and what was more – when he let go, she experienced the sad feeling of emptiness. _Is this how I should feel about it? Or is there something wrong with me_, she panicked inside. She swallowed saliva forcefully and focused on the conversation she was having with Gray, not within her mind. 'I feel scared and hurt.'

Gray did not say anything, but lowered his head and looked at the ground. Lucy sighed, watching the brunet and looked in the other direction. 'You know, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bothering you with my paranoids.'

To her amazement, Gray only growled, turned around and caught her hand into his. 'Come on. You don't need to be afraid with me.'

Lucy stared at his back while he was pulling her towards the house. Finally, she chuckled and smiled with gratitude and tenderness. _Yeah. There's nothing really wrong with me. It's him who's making me self-confident, and in addition is such a good man. I think I understand Juvia. _Although she admitted it to herself, the blonde did not have any intention of telling that to the man himself. At least, not yet.

Gray approached the door and knocked on it. He caught a glimpse of Lucy and found her grinning at him. He felt abashed. 'W-what?'

'Nothing. Thank you, Gray.'

He did not have a chance to answer, because the door suddenly opened and the maid stood in it, looking suspiciously at them. 'Yes?'

'Hello, we're from Fairy Tail' said Gray. 'We came to Mr. Futago.'

'Ah, yes. Okay, come in. He's expecting you' told them the maid with foreign accent and let them inside. The wizards came in and started to feel uneasy. Gray – because of the richness of the house, omnipresent gold and silver, paintings and sculptures, carpets and flowers. Lucy – due to her memory of that very place, which finally returned. Oh, yes. She knew whose house it was. And that she was not welcome there. _Still, there's the slightest chance they_ _won't_ _recognize me…_

'Welcome, my dear Fairies' a deep bass pealed in the room where they were waiting. Lucy and Gray turned to see – to Gray's distaste, and Lucy's discomposure – a tall, handsome man; he was a brunet, well-dressed and seemed to have great manners. 'Please, sit down. Would you like something to drink?'

Mr. Futago did not wait for the answer and turned to the servant to give orders. Only when he did it, Gray felt the girl clinging to his arm and a blow of air when Lucy whispered with determination to his ear: 'Please, don't let me talk in front of him. Please!' He only nodded and felt her loosening the squeeze. They sat close to each other, Lucy feeling safer by his side and Gray feeling overprotective.

'So, someone finally had enough guts to show up and check my request out, huh? I am Futago Kaoru, and my guests…?'

'Gray and… Lisanna' replied Gray. He felt Lucy's movement like she wanted to hit him, but she knew she could not allow herself to do so. If she had done it, the cover name would have been for nothing. 'And yeah, we're here to find out about the job.'

'Of course. Nice to meet you' the owner of the mansion nodded. 'Okay, then. My reward isn't that high for nothing. The job is hard, dangerous and many mages resigned from helping me before you. In fact I'm shocked that there are only both of you.'

'What's the mission?'

'Now, now. Brace yourselves, because you're gonna hear something good. You see, I've always loved fairy tales and legends, I simply loved them. Until one day I heard a story about the long forgotten treasure, which can provide money for the whole life. I wasn't really interested in that, till I read somewhere the other version. Sure, there is a treasure, but inside of the chest there is something much more valuable. A stone of life. Dark Stone of Eternity.'

Mr. Futago paused to observe the reaction of his guests. Gray frowned, and Lucy was sitting with lowered head. He cleaned his throat and continued. 'See, at the beginning I thought exactly the same thing… It's just a legend! But slowly the matter took over my whole mind and I started the research. And now, after those years, I know it's real. It exists. And it's somewhere in Japan.'

'Well, I thought as much' said Gray and crossed his arms. 'So getting it is hard, right? Well, no problem…'

'No. It's not just that' denied Mr. Fugato with a smile. 'And that's why the reward is high. But I must tell you, it's not only that; when you find the treasure, you can keep 50% of it. I just need the Stone.'

'WHAT' exclaimed the Ice mage, moving nervously and looking like he was expecting the man to yell _Prima Aprils!_ any time. 'You're joking, right?'

'No, not at all!'

He was thinking a while. 'Okay, so tell us, where is it?'

The owner of the manor cleared his throat again. 'I shall have no idea.'

'… What?'

'As I wrote, I need clever and smart people – just to find it out. You have a full access to my research and sources, and you live at my mansion. It's huge so you will find it quite comfortable, I suppose. Ah, and the dinners we eat all together, of course. I'm pretty lonely in here… So it will be a pleasure to me to have someone to talk to.'

The Ice mage turned to look at Lucy. She asked him not to force her to speak but it was not something he should have been deciding on his own. Although when he saw the look on her face, he changed his plan.

'Sorry, Mr. Futago… Can we talk it over?'

'Sure! Go on!' he agreed at once with a smile.

'Um, I mean… Me and Lisanna. Alone.'

That time the tall man glared at them with suspicion, but said nothing and nodded his head in a direction of opened door on the right side of the room they were in. Gray got up and pulled Lucy after him. She did not throw her hair from the face and followed the brunet to another room. Gray made sure Mr. Futago stayed away and closed the door, then turned to the blonde.

'Okay. I suppose you know this man, Luce. But can you explain to me…'

'Sorry, not now. I promise when we'll be left alone, I'll tell you all you need to know' she looked at him the way which made the boy regret saying anything on that matter. He cleared his throat and asked about the mission. 'Well, it seems pretty tough, but I think we could handle it. What do you say?'

'I don't know. It may be much longer than we thought…' he scratched his head and turned his sight onto the portrait of the owner of the manor. _I wonder what's happened between those two. '_But I think it might be a good experience. And, after all, we can resign from doing it, right?'

'Sure. So, what, do we give it a go?'

'Yeah.'

'Oh, and Gray…'

'Mmm?'

'Where's your shirt?' Lucy giggled and crossed her arms, looking at his nude torso. Gray jumped and growled. He must had left it in the salon. The blonde shook her head with a smile and opened the door, getting serious again. He nodded and went out as the first one. He stood in front of the man, only before he had taken his shirt and had put in on his arm, and said with determination 'We accept the mission. Please, take care of us.'

* * *

Needless to say Mr. Futago had been in heaven when he had heard of their decision. He had announced that their bedrooms are prepared and the maid would take them there straight away. Then he had asked Gray and Lucy, alias Lisanna to gather in the hall and had promised to show them around, including the most important place for them to use: an used-to-be secret room where he was doing his research. Or maybe the guests had been too tired to visit the mansion that day? After all, it had been a long journey, getting there and it was already night. Both of the mages declined, but the decision had been made unassisted, and Kaoru had announced the sightseeing for the next day.

'The maid will be calling you for the meals, but, as I have mentioned, I will be eating only dinners with you. Please, now, take care of yourselves and see you around. I wish I could get to know you better, but I must do some business stuff today. So, tomorrow's the day!' Mr. Futago had laughed and had left the wizards alone.

When he was gone, one of the maids came to them and bowed down, saying her name was Kiyomi and to take care of her. Lucy smiled, finally letting herself go and replied politely the way she should. Gray only mumbled something, having no idea of the etiquette. The blonde giggled and winked at him.

Kiyomi-chan was leading them through countless corridors and finally got to one where she stopped beside the door and bowed down again. 'This is your room, master' she told Gray and watched as he went inside. 'Now, please, follow me, mistress.' She led Lucy to the room on the other side of the corridor and showed her door. 'If you need anything, please, call me by the button inside. Its magic will let me know.'

'Sure, thank you. You may leave now' said Lucy and went into the room. It was definitely huge. A huge bed with canopy, a wardrobe out of oak wood, enormous windows and carpets on the floor. A dressing table was standing right next to the window where the light was shining the best way to do a make-up and take care of a lady's face. She sighed. So like home…

After several minutes she heard a knocking on the door. 'Yes?'

'Hey, can I come in?' Lucy sighed. It was Gray.

'Sure! Always. You don't need to ask, I guess I'm used to you guys invading my room when I don't expect anything.'

The man went inside and closed the door. He skimmed the room and nodded. 'Good to know. Oh, what a room. Mine's similar. I only have a bigger bed.'

'Oh really' she laughed and sat on hers. It was soft and comfortable. 'So, what do you think?'

'About…?' Gray joined her on the bed, sitting in a safe distance.

'About everything. Like, the mission, and the house, and the owner…' she hesitated before saying the last word. Gray sighed.

'Like we agreed before, I think we should give it a try. This is kinda fun. And I like the idea of looking for it later on' he smiled.

'If we will ever find the place' said Lucy with a roll of the eyes.

'With your brain? Sure we will!'

Lucy felt really nice when he flattered her and praised her skills. Yeah, the same had been with the S-class exam – he had waited for het to solve the problem, and then had planned on following her and Cana to the grave or even defeating them on the way. _Such a clever boy_. 'But hey, what are you gonna do? I mean, you'll help he, right?'

'Guess so! This is our mission' he smirked and lied down athwart the bed. Lucy blinked and in this half of second he managed to lose his shirt again.

Someone knocked on the door. It turned out to be Kiyomi-chan who invited them for the supper. Both of them were so hungry that they were ready to go after the maid straight away. (Lucy made Gray put on his shirt) It was good to have a guide, because they would have been lost after first three bends. 'What a house' mumbled Gray, cursing the spacious and labyrinth-like corridors. Lucy smiled at that.

'Here, have a good meal' Kiyomi-chan said when she finally stopped and showed them a medium room where there was a fireplace in the old style and a table with various dishes on it. 'Do you prefer white wine or red?'

Fairy Tail mages looked at each other with a twinkle in the eyes. That was a real feast! _If only Natsu… Oh, wait. No, no idiots allowed this time_, she chastened herself and sat down. Gray answered: 'Red wine.'

Is was the second time in a row when Lucy was eating supper with Gray. A nice talk and delicious food were making it pleasant and nice. When she slaked the first hunger, she premised her chin on the hand and started observing the brunet who was eating everything he could have reached. It was kind of funny, watching his behavior. It was much better than she had expected, though. Lucy knew that Gray was growing up at the guild and the people there did not have any manners she had been taught as a small child. Yet, he seemed to manage everything quite well. _Huh, I guess that's Gray for you!_, she thought.

'What? Do I do something wrong?' Lucy heard suddenly and realized she had been staring at the man with half-closed eyes without knowing he had noticed it. Gray was visibly confused.

'Eee, no! Not at all, I just…' she turned red and made an excuse. 'I was thinking a deep thought!'

'Okay' the boy gave her a smirk and grinned. 'Not that it particularly was disturbing me, well, maybe a little, but it's not like you.'

'Ah, ahaha. Right' she sighed with relief, then took care of her last portion of food. That was definitely embarrassing, to get caught like that…! _Hey, but I was thinking about him again… THAT'S EVEN WORSE!_

Gray rose his elbow and laughed quietly. He knew – or he thought he knew. _That_ _was sly, Lucy._

* * *

Lucy and Gray drank the whole bottle of wine together that evening. The atmosphere became more intimidating and at ease, the air definitely heated up. The mages went back to their rooms, telling each other a small goodbye and sending a shy smile.

That was what Kiyomi saw and when the door closed behind the lat one of them, she turned around and rushed to the room on the other side of the house. She knocked five times and opened the door after a loud _Come in_. 'Master.'

'Ah, Kiyomi. What's it?'

'I've watched her carefully, as you asked me to. The blonde girl who came here with that guy.'

'Ah, yes' Mr. Futago sat vigorously down, taking his legs off the desk and looking at the maid with interest in his eyes. 'And?'

'She doesn't behave like one of the guild's magicians. She knows well the etiquette and customs of living in such a concern. Besides, if I may, her posture is like a real lady's.'

Kaoru Futago turned on his chair and gazed at the darkness outside. That was interesting… 'Thank you, Kiyomi. Now I need to confirm it…'

'What, Master?' she asked.

'Oh, it's not important. At least, not for you' he murmured, still looking outside, but that time there was something much darker and devilish in his expression. Oh, yes. He had to confirm those suspicions before it was too late.

* * *

**Uwaaa, the whole-Graylu-thing today:) no Natsu, haha, no idiots allowed. Besides, how do you like Mr. Futago? Just for you to know, his surname means in Japanese "a twin". And well, I didn't want to hurry with the action. I wanted to write so much more, though.**

**Thank you for reviewing and favoriting and reading and everything!**

**Love you all!**

**PS and yes, Gray notices some interest from Lucy, but he thinks it's really small. And, besides, it he's attracted to her, he knows he can easily imagine things, right? Come on! You all know that feeling :D**

**PPS what's wrong with FF? It really changed strangely...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hiro Mashima is the God who created Fairy Tail. I am only someone who tries to be somewhat like him:)**

* * *

Lucy woke up in a huge, comfortable bed, tangled in a large and soft duvet. At first, she was not sure where she was and why. _Oh, right_. She remembered: they were at the house of their client, Mr. Futago. Who was a rich and influential man. And he happened to be someone else to her_. Kaoru, huh…_ She thought and sighed out loud. Well, since there was no turning back, and the reward was high, there was nothing she could do about it. Of course, it bothered the young woman to be living in the same house as _that_ owner, and what was more, the perspective of spending some time with him was kind of dreadful, but it was still better than wandering around the town, looking for motels.

The solution was obvious, she had to solve the problem of the location of the treasure as soon as possible. Moreover, she should definitely avoid meeting Futago Kaoru on her own. Lucy hoped that it would be enough.

And what about Gray? She promised to tell him everything. And the Celestial mage would have never broken the promise, especially given to a friend. _And I will, when the moment is right._ _Gray would wait, wouldn't he? He's so dear that there's no way he would make me do something against my will._ Lucy smiled. She was truly happy to go with him on that mission.

The blonde clambered out of the bed and stretched her back. She checked the time and smirked. It was nine o'clock. Gray surely was still sleeping, so she decided to pay him a visit and wake him up delicately. _Yeah, sure_, Lucy smiled evilly. _Delicately_.

Heartfilia changed quickly, went out of her room and moved towards the door of Gray's peace. She stopped right in front of them and put her ear to the door. There was no sound at all, so she crept inside. Lucy held her laughter when she saw the man, sleeping innocently. His hair were a mess, and he was shirtless. He looked like a child. Well. Poor thing.

"Graaaay, wake up!" she cried and jumped on the sleeping brunet.

Gray opened his eyes and jumped while rolling on the bed, scared. He growled when he hit the ground. Lucy giggled and came out to see if he was okay. "The hell you're thinking?!" Gray yelled. He massaged his arm which hurt badly. "Don't you have any sense?!"

"I do" answered Lucy, still grinning at him.

"Haven't noticed. Geez. You crazy girl" he mumbled, getting up. His whole side was in pain because of the close meeting with the floor. "Why did ya do that?"

"It's late, we need to go to the library and do the research!"

"YOU need to do the research. I'm going to think of nothing" he smirked. "Remember? You're the brainy person here."

"So you want to leave me alone?" Lucy made a sad expression. "Really?"

"You're so many times on your own in a library. Why not now?"

"Gray!" the blonde's eyes widened and she started looking scared for real.

"Haa? H-hey, no need to look so terrified" he frowned. Lucy lowered her head and put her palms on the knees. He did not want to see her sad. A few seconds later he reached out his hand and mussed up her hair. "I won't leave you alone, stupid. We're together in this. Right?"

The Celestial Spirit mage nodded, then hesitated. Finally, she moved closer and leaned her cheek over the man's shoulder with a strange expression on her face. "Just promise you won't let him do anything to me."

Gray blinked in surprise. "What a stupid thing to say, of course I wouldn't. Why would he do anything to you, anyway?"

However, Lucy did not respond. The Ice mage sighed and patted her head. He did not dare to hug her, instead he got up on his feet and looked at her with a smile. "Aren't we going to the library?"

"Mhm!" she exclaimed.

* * *

The breakfast took them some time. They needed to go all around the house to find Kiyomi-chan who was supposed to go to the kitchen and order the cooks to prepare some food for the guests. Although they were claiming that they could have done that on their own, the maid made them sit in the saloon and wait for the food. They were bored with waiting and even the small chat they were having did not help with anything. Finally, the service brought some plates and cutlery and later on the meals came on the table.

Lucy felt like she went back to the times of her childhood, when the service was on her orders, and everything seemed so beautiful and easy… She sighed under her breath and came back to reality. Then she realized Gray was looking at her with a questioning sight. "W-what?"

"I asked you a question, Luce" he said, rising one brow. The Celestial mage blushed and apologized. The brunet felt a little helpless when she returned to her expressionless face and ate silently. That was not like her. "So. What are we going to look for in the library?"

"You said you won't help me with that" she reproached.

"But I can take the books out of the shelf, right? Besides, it's gonna take ages if you'll be the only one reading that stuff" he smirked. "That Futago sacrificed his whole life for that and he expects us to find the answer in a few weeks… Seriously strange guy."

"Yeah" she agreed. "You sure change your mind fast, Gray."

"Who's the one to talk" he _hymped_ and took a bite of pancake from his plate.

When the pair of mages finished, they were shown the way to the library. The room was enormous; its dimensions were of at least six saloons they had been sitting in before, plus the book shelves looked more like colossal buildings. "I-I guess that's the whole amount of books, and the number of the books about the treasure is s-smaller…?" said Lucy with trembling voice. Gray was too stunned to answer that. "Come on." They moved further and found a chamber signed as a _Research room_. They headed there with hope and some kind of relief and found a room with much smaller quantity of the books.

"Oh, yeah, that's a relief" said Gray with sarcasm, looking at the book-cases. There wer three of them. Yeah. Three of them, rambling to the ceiling and consisting of hundreds of books, if not even thousands. "We're fucked."

"We can do it" told him Lucy, not sounding really convincing herself. _Oh, my sweet Mavis, what the hell is wrong with Kaoru to give such a mission to the mages?_, she thought in deep shock.

"Oh? I see you found the Room of Research without my help" the mages heard a voice of the owner of the possession and turned around to face him. Lucy instinctively stepped behind Gray and lowered her head. Mr. Futago chuckled and turned to her directly. "There, there, no need to be ashamed, my lady. _Lisanna_, was it?" he stressed the name with a smile that gave Lucy goosebumps. _He knows_, she thought, somewhat panicked. She decided to stand up to him and act as well as she could have.

"Lisanna's my name, my lord. I'm glad you remember" she said with a hard expression, completely focusing on her voice not to falter.

"Sure I did. Hmm. Anyway…" he looked at her closely and smiled. "Anyway! You have full access to my books, so why not start analyzing the research now?"

"Of course" spoke Gray, frowning. He moved to Lucy and took her hand. She looked at him with widened eyes and let him take her deeper into the room. "Come on, Lis, let's do this."

Kaoru Futago was standing there, smiling naturally, or that was only an impression. In fact, he was far from being content and he felt annoyed. _So that's how it is_, he thought to himself. _Now I know_. He nodded and closed his eyes. The woman's identity was suspicious from the start. She looked exactly as _her_… Yes, she did. He had done some research on the Fairy Tail mages and had not found any _blond_ Lisanna Strauss. By then he was ninety-nine percent sure she was the one he had been suspecting her to be. He only had to confirm it with one last act… Mr. Futago smirked and walked away, feeling triumphal. _Got you_.

At the same time, Lucy and Gray started looking through the notes their client had made up till then. Thank goodness, the Celestial mage got from Levy the Gale-Force Reading Glasses, so she read and analyzed everything in fifteen minutes. She wanted to pass it to Gray, but he refused using it and decided to help by passing her the books from the shelves and cheering on her.

"So what, you'll be like Jet and Droy when they're with Levy-chan?" asked Lucy with a smirk.

"I've heard it helps" he muttered, putting his hands into the pockets.

"You really thought it's gonna HELP ME?!"

"Is there any disservice to try?"

Lucy laughed and turned back to the review, shaking her head. Seriously, what a guy he was. However, that was not the time to be distracted. The blonde focused. The first book she decided to check out was the oldest and the most commonly known _Original Fairy Tales of Crown the Teller_. "We need to get back to the basics. If we don't know the story, we won't achieve anything. So, Gray, do me a favor and find the book."

"How the hell am I to find it here?" he asked.

"Like in the library. There are signed areas of the authors and titles, just find it" Lucy rolled her eyes, reading the papers without the Glasses anymore.

Gray had an expression of the highest confusion when he approached the list of every work in there. He read some of the positions and headed somewhere in the corridor between the shelves. The man looked at the names and found them to be from 'T' to 'Z'. "What the, the signs told me to look for it here…" he murmured and stared checking every book one by one. Then he returned to the list and checked the map. "Shit…" he swore and entered another alley, the first one that time. There were books from… 'T' to 'Z' again. "What?! But they were on the other side of the chamber!" He ran his eyes through the books and found nothing. He ran back and tried to study the map, but…

"Gray, what the hell are you doing?" asked him Lucy, standing right behind him.

"Trying to find the book you asked me to" he tried to respond calmly and like it was nothing. She sighed and showed him the sign above the map he had been studying: Emergency Exit.

"Good luck with that" she told him, holding the laugh and went there herself. The finding of the book took her less than five minutes. She passed by him, winking. "Come on!"

"Tsk." Exclaimed Gray and followed the blonde, feeling embarrassed and humiliated. _Damn, and I wanted to help that bookish devil… And turned into being a complete idiot._"Hey, maybe I'll head back to…" he stopped talking when he saw Lucy's face. He had promised her… The brunet shrugged his shoulders and turned his head away. "You know what, never mind."

"No. You're bored… I don't want to bother you" she suddenly said, glaring at him with sincerity. "No, I'm completely serious. If you feel like you're hot and bothered, tell me…" Lucy frowned when the Ice mage sat down on the carpet and made himself comfortable. "Um… What are you doing?"

"Stayin'" he said, taking off his hoodie he had today and staying in his T-shirt. "Doesn't look like?"

"B-but…" she closed her eyes for a moment.

"I promised, Luce" he smiled slightly. Lucy opened her eyes and could not have helped the giggle. Gray abashed. "What?"

"Okay. But tell me… Where's your shirt?" she teased him. The man looked down at his naked torso and jumped, swearing. "When did that happen?!" Lucy giggled again. Maybe he was not much of the help, but he was such a great company.

* * *

Natsu was sitting at the bar, glaring from time to time at the door like he was expecting someone – the obvious someone – to come in and greet him with a smile. It had been a week since Lucy had disappeared with Gray and they had not returned yet. He was seriously worried what that stripper and ice-brain could have done to her, or could have NOT done for her. For example, was that squint-eyed freak able to make her safe?

"Oughhh, I can't take it anymore! Mira, I'm going after them!" he yelled with anger, but the Master growled at him.

"Silence, Natsu. It wasn't an easy job, and it surely was a long one. No need to worry."

"But I must know what's wrong with Lucy!"

"Eeeh? Natsu, are you in love with our cute little Lucy?" asked Cana, smirking at him. He turned red and tried to decline it, but then Gajeel turned around and looked straight at him.

"What, Salamnder? You're in love with bunny girl?"

"Like hell I would be…" started furiously the pink-headed man, but he was interrupted once again, that time by Elfman, who yelled "Being true to one's feelings, that's a MAN!"

"Just shut up!"

"Did I hear it right? You finally made up your mind, Natsu?" asked Erza above her everyday piece of cake.

"NNNOOOOO!" Natsu cried and ran out of the guild, heading to his home. Happy, who was sitting in the corner with Carla, sighed and flew behind his best friend.

The guild became quiet for a moment, but then Mirajane broke the silence by saying sweetly: "Yup. He really loves her, doesn't he?"

* * *

More than a week had passed and Lucy and Gray seemed to know so much about the treasure, which, nevertheless, did not make them any closer to the revealing of the place where it had been hidden. The mages were spending most of the days between the books and notes in the library. Every day at the concrete hour they were eating dinner with Mr. Futago, who seemed to be really interested in them. Especially in Lucy, teasing who was giving him some kind of sick pleasure. Nonetheless, Lucy was still stubborn enough to keep quiet about her relation with the owner, which somehow annoyed Gray. The man wanted to help his friend, but failed miserably every time he wanted to make her say something concrete.

The Ice mage and the Celestial Spirit mage became much closer, which was caused by the non-stop being with each other. The additional thing was that there was a strong string of attraction they felt towards each other – the time they had spent in the Mr. Futago's mansion had made it stronger and more intensive.

It was the tenth night, right before they went to sleep. They had had some wine before leaving the dining room and were in good moods. As every evening, Gray took Lucy to her room and when he made sure she was in her room, he went back to his own chamber.

Lucy stretched her back in the room, feeling sleepy and simply good. She had been working hard, and with every hour she felt that she was closer to the answer. It must have been something easy, something she had overlooked probably in the notes she had taken… But what could it have been? _Well, whatever. Right now it's time for me to get some sleep_, she decided and sat down in front of the mirror, undoing her hair and washing the face.

Suddenly, she heard a crack. She froze, listening, but when for the next several seconds nothing had happened, she returned to her activities. However, when she looked into the mirror, she saw a figure of a person behind her. She screamed and jumped from the chair she had been sitting on. Her heart started racing like after a marathon, but she felt it almost stop when she saw who was the person standing then in front of her. "My God, Mr, Futago, you… You scared me!"

"Well, I'm sorry, _Lisanna_, or I should say: _Lucy_" he said with a smirk. He was dressed in a dressing gown and held a cigarette. The woman was stunned, but managed to answer lightly:

"I have no idea who you're talking about, so could you please get out of here? I wanted to change."

"Now, now, don't you try to act no more" he laughed with an evil grin. "Don't you remember me, Futago Kaoru? And my brother, Haruto?"

"I don't know…"

"Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia. You're a good actress, but my sources don't lie. Ever" Mr. Futago smirked and came closer, to the Lucy's terrify. "You almost… No, you did break our chances to get your land and possessions when you refused to act like Jude told you to act. Don't you remember who was the one you were supposed to marry, huh? Who you were calling a fiancé when we were little?" the man was only inches away from the horrified girl's face and his own visage started to grimace in anger. "But little did you know about my true intentions, isn't it right? That I only desired to get your wealth, and I didn't care a bit about the beautiful, full of herself bimbo you were."

"Stay away from me, Kaoru" Lucy said with the new strength in her voice. There was no sense in pretending anymore. The man in front of her knew about everything. "Stay the hell away of me and my life. I managed to run away from you once, and I'll do it again. No matter the costs."

"Oh, you don't get it, do you?" he murmured, reaching her cheek with his hand and moving his finger along her yaw. "I have no need of you anymore – you've lost everything."

"So what do you want?"

"I think you know. You've always been a smart girl, after all" he half-said, half-hissed, quite calmly. He stretched his arms, one with the g=cigarette, just to catch her shoulders and push her towards the bed. Lucy understood and screamed, trying to break free from his catch. "Tut, tut, there's no use."

"Let go of me, you bastard…" she growled angrily, withstanding as hard as she could have. There was something wrong with him. Definitely. He was not behaving like the Kaoru she had used to know… More like… Haruto? "You will never get what you want!"

"Oh? I take this as a dare" he chuckled and kicked her legs. Lucy felt herself flying and landing on the sheets on the bed. He caught her hands into one of his above her head and that was the moment she started to fear. _No, no way… Somebody, help me… Anybody!_

Fortunately, there was one person she could have counted on right then. The mage gathered her power and sent a magical impulse from her body, which was supposed to reach the one who could pass through the Celestial gate on his own will. She felt a relief when she felt some magical power appearing. So she did it just in time. "Loke!"

"You. The bastard on top of her" the Lion said, holding his hands in the pockets. He was visibly mad, looking from above his darkened glasses with a death glare. "I heard she clearly told you to leave her alone. I would recommend you doing exactly the thing."

"Huh? A creep? How did you get into my house?" Kaoru turned his head with snit. He finally threw the cigarette away.

"Neither a creep, nor a human. I said: let go of Lucy" Loke exclaimed and terrible magical aura encompassed him. The light was getting more intensive. However, Mr. Futago only laughed.

"No way" and he hit Lucy's face with his second arm which was still free.

Loke sighed and the light got even brighter. "You have some nerve, huh? Now I'm furious."

The Lion Spirit flicked his hand and the psycho man fell down from the mage. He hit the floor and moaned. The spirit came closer. Futago Kaoru got up and tried to smite Loke, but he dodged and repaid him with a lot more well-aimed punch. The owner of the house flew on the wall and sunk on the floor again. Loke looked at the half-conscious guy and came closer to Lucy. "Are you okay, my dear?"

"Somehow…" she whispered behind her arm, in which she was sobbing. The Spirit hug her. "Are you alone?"

"No, I'm with Gray" Lucy answered, still whispering. Loke seemed content with the answer. "You want me to go to him?"

"Yes, you'll be safer there."

"Loke, thank you so much, if you didn't help me, I… I'd…" she moaned and covered her mouth with a hand. The Lion Spirit nodded and lifted her, then left the room with his friend in his arms. She was so weak now. He managed to find the door of Gray's room and entered it without any knocking.

Gray was not asleep yet, and he was sitting on the window still, looking outside. He turned his head and saw Loke carrying the crying and frightened Lucy. He frowned and scrambled to his feet. "Sweet Mavis, what's happened?!"

"Gray, take care of Lucy, please. She had some… Bad incident. She'll tell you the rest, I need to get back" the Lion turned to his owner and whispered. "You're safe now. Trust Gray. Call me anytime you feel like doing so."

"Thank you, Loke" mumbled the blonde and watched as he disappeared. Lucy was sitting on the floor. Gray knew her strong self, cheery and with much energy. Right then she seemed so vulnerable, so scared and drown out of the usual liveliness that he felt his heart aching. The brunet approached Lucy and sat next to her.

"Luce."

"Gray… I'm sorry for making you worried and making a problem…" she moaned quietly. Lucy was feeling ashamed of herself, that she was not strong enough to prevent herself from that situation, and she hated it. "I never thought that he'd actually try…"

"Who?" he asked, but realized that the timing was not right. Gray nodded to himself and embraced the shaking friend of his, who clung to his bare chest – yes, he was shirtless – and got her on his lap to be more comfortable. Gray had no idea what was that he should be doing, so he caressed Lucy's head and back, saying something like "It's okay now" and "I'm here". He truly hated to see the girl cry, especially when it came to Lucy. He wanted to see her usual smile, full of happiness and hope. He wanted to hear her cheerful voice and see how she was jumping when she heard something which excited her. He wanted to make her happy again. Somehow…

Yet, nothing popped into his mind. So he was sitting and patting her until she stopped crying. Gray caught a glance of Lucy's face and decided to speak up. "Better now?" she nodded. The Ice mage put her off his lap and stood up, offering her an arm. There was a shadow of the smile which flashed by her face and she accepted it. Gray did not let go of her hand and led her to the bed. "Come on, sit down. Do you want something to drink?"

"N-no, that's all right" she answered silently.

"Hey, Luce. Do you want to talk about it? Or anything?" he asked and sat beside the woman. She did not say anything, so he sighed and started to tell her about some stupid things – well, everything that came to his mind at the very moment. Lucy seemed to listen to it, although she did not react. Finally, her hand moved and she put her finger right on Gray's lips. His eyes widened when he glared at her in amazement.

"Gray. I think you should know about something." _At last_, he thought, but did not interrupt her. "I know Futago Kaoru. You kind of realized it, and I'm really grateful that you didn't ask nor push me to tell you anything. See, I lived, as you know, in a wealthy family. We were frequent guests in other rich families. One of them was Futago family. They had two sons, twins, who were a year older than me. We turned out to be good friends with Kaoru and Haruto. Our parents, who were really happy to see our relationship, decided to unite the two families in the future. But everything changed with my mother's death, and later with the boys' attitude. I stopped seeing them at all. We hardly even talked. My father never insisted on going there anymore. And the bonds were broken. However. There was a huge fuss over Futago family when the father died. The brothers were said to fight with each other and, at last, Haruto left. Or so everyone believed."

Lucy stopped and stared at Gray, who seemed to be in another world. She moved closer and held Gray's hand, looking for support. "When my father hired Phantom Lord to kidnap me, it was because of the marriage he arranged for me. It must have been with Kaoru. And… Today… Today, he came to my room. He told me he knew exactly who I am… And he really did realize. Later he told me, what was his motive in marrying me in the past. To lay his hands on my fortune. And… He told me that he doesn't want anything for me, except… That I had to pay for it…" Lucy shivered and continued with shaky voice. "Kaoru caught me. He wanted to… Wanted to…"

"Shh. I get it" said Gray with anger.

"If Loke didn't help me… If he didn't feel my magic…" her voice broke and Lucy fell silent. There was a strange pressure between them. They both wanted to hug each other, but were not sure if that would not have been anything to fracture their current relationship. Ultimately, Gray pulled her hand which was still holding his and enfolded her, propping his chin on her forehead and saying he was sorry. "Huh? Why?"

"Because it's me who picked this mission. And I promised I won't let you get hurt… And I failed."

"No, no, you had no idea…" she whispered. "I'm sorry for dragging you into all of this."

They stayed in that position for a while until Lucy started to yawn. Gray announced that it was time to sleep and Lucy was going to sleep with him that night. If she was okay with it, of course. The blonde blushed but agreed, and since there was only one bed, but the huge one, therefore they decided to sleep together.

The mages laid down and turned their back on each other. Lucy was feeling really embarrassed, but it was Gray, after all… The woman heard that Gray was breathing regularly and she rose on her arms, turning to him. She leaned over the sleeping figure and delitately kissed his cheek. _Thank you so much for being here for me_, she thought of an excuse for her action and smiled. Somehow he made her smile again. Blushing crazily and getting back on her place, she could not have noticed the brunet having his eyes wide opened in great surprise.

* * *

**Soo, how was it? I really wanted to give something more to this chapter, I don't know if I succeeded or not… **

**Thank you all for reading my stories, reviewing and making a favorite out of them 3 I really love you, guys.**

* * *

**PS Oh right, I've recently started a new story about Gray and Lucy :) it's something completely different and I don't know if I'll continue it…**


	6. Chapter 6

**Unfortunately, I do not own Fair Tail.**

* * *

"Natsu, where are you going?" asked Happy in the morning, looking confused. The blue Exceed woke up and the first thing he saw was the beautiful sunrise through the window. But something bothered him, so he turned around just to perceive his best friend packing some things up to the bag with a rather strange expression… Determination, was it not? "Are we going on a mission?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah? That's all you have to say to me?" said Happy, irritated. _What a jerk, he didn't even tell me anything about it…_ "Natsu!"

"You don't have to come with me" told him simply the Fire mage, not even bothering to look at the cat.

"Fine! I'm staying, you baka!" cried Happy and flew out of the house through the window.

Natsu froze, but did not go after his best friend. He understood how the blue Exceed felt, and it ached his heart as well. On the other hand, the mage knew that he would forgive him eventually. There was something he had to do due to his realizations he had made.

The Dragon Slayer put the bag on his back and sighed.

He was going to the place where Lucy was. The girl was there alone, only with that snow princess. He could not have beard it anymore. In his dreams he had been seeing the Ice mage doing the things to Lucy that he had never thought of before. Oh, hell to the no! _So, it's decided. I'm gonna tell her how I feel_. Natsu checked the time. _Shit!_ He ran out of his home, not even bothering to close the door, to get to the train station as soon as possible. His train was leaving just in ten minutes.

The train. That was just how much he cared – to take the only reason of his destruction to reach her quicker. Natsu hoped that Lucy would have appreciated his sacrifice.

* * *

Gray woke up tangled in the sheet, looking like a caterpillar. He growled silently and faded into the pupa, making himself comfortable and closing his eyes once again. He pulled his head closer to the torso, but his nose nibbled something and stopped on that smooth and smelling of strawberry with a tone of vanilla thing. Gray took a deeper breath and decided that the aroma was damn pleasant and amusing. His mouth corners lifted slightly. Then he felt a delicate blow of air on his face. Wait, the blow of the air? And the sensation was repeating… The man opened his eyes and backed away with his head, surprised.

Lucy was sleeping next to him in a cocoon of her own, but less tousled than his. She was turned by her front to him and had an angelic expression on her face. Gray found the sight terribly cute. He gawked closer. There were some dry tears on her eyelashes. He suppressed the urge to remove them and again inhaled deeply. The scent of strawberry with vanilla was much weaker, so he carefully came back to the previous position, putting an arm under his head. Her face was perfectly smooth and calm, big eyes closed behind the long eyelashes, small nose and faintly smiling rosy lips under it… And that was the exact moment Gray remembered what Lucy had done in the night when she thought that he was asleep.

Of course, it was barely to be called a kiss, but it invoked such a sensation that he had been going through it over and over again ever since. Even right then, remembering the incident, he blushed. _Oh, what the hell_. Why was he reacting like that? Making such a fuss over the touch of the woman's lips, like it had never happened before… Fine. At least not with Lucy, that was. But still, his body had responded with heating up and making his blood pressure much higher. Not to mention his heart which had tried to jump out of his chest.

What was that about her that made the experience so unusual?

"Gray?" he heard. He caught a glimpse of her opened eyes and thought: _Shit, so she was awake?_

"Mmm?" he mumbled, blinking and pretending that he was not glaring at Lucy at all.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"I-I'm not, baka. I just… I mused."

"Okaaaaay" Lucy was still too sleepy to argue and yawned in the middle of saying that. "Oh, right. I hope I wasn't too much of trouble… You know, I kinda toss and turn in sleep, so…"

"No, no. You didn't disturb me" said Gray and smiled. Then he thought: at _least not in the way you think you might have._ "Are you.. Okay?"

"Uh-uh. I guess" the blonde turned her sight away.

"Then… What do you want to do? Truth to be said, the mission seemed hopeless to me since the beginning, and I'd totally understand it if you…"

"What are you talking about?" Lucy frowned and looked him straight into the eyes with a question. Gray tried not to show his distraction and quickly bounced back.

"Luce… You don't wanna leave this place?" he rose his eyebrow.

"You know… No" she answered and sighed. "I'm pretty close to understand where the treasure of that fairy tale is, and I want to actually reveal it. What's more, I think that there's more to that… And I need to confirm it. So, if it's not too much…" Lucy sighed and spitted. The man felt a nice blow of air on his nude chest, tickling his skin. "Can you stay with me till the end?"

"Well, it's kinda obvious I won't leave you alone with that psycho ex-to-be-friend of yours…" he rolled his eyes. "But what if he comes to your bedroom again?"

"That's why" the Celestial mage managed to withdraw one of her hands just to poke him in the shoulder which was the nearest part of him with a playful smile. "If you don't mind… We could s-sleep toge… I-I mean, like this n-night."

Gray stared at her in amazement, Did she really just offered him to share a bed for the time being? _No shit_. He held a smirk and, since he was in a good mood that day, decided to tease her a little. "Oh? So, you're saying…" the brunet came closer to her, constantly and intensively looking into her eyes and getting even nearer. He stopped only when their faces were inches away. Lucy's cheeks flushed and her eyes started to sparkle. "You don't mind sleeping with a man in one bed, who, in addition…" he ceased and smiled. "… is a stripper?"

He chuckled on the sight of her wide opened eye and completely red face. Gray abacked to his original position, not expecting to hear any answer. He was quite glad of himself that he had not lost his mind, although his heart started to pound quicker and quicker with every centimeter he had gotten closer to her.

"N-no" a small voice came out of Lucy's lips behind the sheet. Suddenly, Gray's head fell on his arm, which caused them both to hurt. Well, he did not expect it."I d-don't mind."

"Well, your choice" he stretched and hid his bewilderment. She really did not?

"Wait, Gray…"

"Huh?"

"Don't tell me…" Lucy blushed even more, which Gray considered as something impossible. _So that shade of crimson actually exists, eh?_ "You have _nothing_ on yourself right now?"

"W-well…"

"PERVERT" she yelled and rapidly took her pillow from under her hair and punched him hard with it. Or tried to, because with a pillow there was not too much of the damage she could have caused him. Gray laughed at that and caught his own pillow, aiming for Lucy's nose. She quickly moved away and almost fell from the bed. "Kyaa!" she squealed and felt a big hand catching her forearm, then pulling her small body up. Unfortunately – or, fortunately, indeed, Gray put too much of his strength into one move and Lucy ended up, laying in her sheet on him.

Gray felt his cheeks got hit by the rushing blood from under his skin, and the facial expression of hers was telling him that the woman went thought the same sensation. Although he had the whole sheet tangled around his body, the man felt suddenly nude and, oh, he liked that feeling.

Lucy, on the other hand, had her eyes wide opened out of embarrassment and she had no idea what to do. The fact that Gray did not have any pants… Or even boxers… Did not make the situation better. At all. She was scared of moving even a finger and stayed still until the Ice mage reasonably lifted her a little and put beside him on the bed, where she previously laid.

"I'm starving, let's get something to eat, hm?" he said like nothing had happened and got up from the bed. The blonde, confused, nodded and agreed with some onomatopoeia.

Gray went to the bathroom to dress up and do himself up. He _really_ enjoyed that morning.

* * *

It was almost the night. Natsu finally managed to get out of the train. _Damn, this is bad… I _so_ need to rest…_ He moaned loudly and without any ceremony overbalanced on the ground next to the station. He was neither interested in the surroundings nor a few of disgusted people around who hurriedly got into the train, leaving him behind. It was impossible for him to notice the oddity of the scene – some ruined houses and almost empty station. Was that really a town?

The Fire mage laid in the same position and the exact place for some time. He ended up travelling the same route three times. First, when he had barely made it on the train and had left Magnolia in the morning. He had been quite content for being just in time, before the departure of the vehicle. Unfortunately, that had not been his lucky day and his body had started to be offended by the transportation straight away.

That was exactly the reason why he had gone for the second time the same way – that time, back to Magnolia. Shame on him and his guts, but Natsu's body was unable to make the slightest move when the train had finally reached its end and there had not been any Happy around to help him out… That had been the moment the mage started regretting leaving his friend behind.

Yet, when he had come back to Magnolia, he had decided that it was useless, trying to get out of the vehicle and look for Happy where the blue Exceed could have been anywhere. All in all, Natsu had remained stretched on the floor, waiting for the third departure of that cursed vehicle. _To hell with the transportation and his motion sickness…_ He was pathetic. Honestly.

And then, in the late evening, the train stopped again in that town and Natsu managed to crawl out of that devil's machine. Before he was able to stand up, it was already dark. He looked around just to find a sleeping hobo on a bench and… No one more. _Strange_, he thought, frowning. _Where are the people? _But there was nobody who he could have asked about anything.

"Oi, does anybody hear me?" he yelled, making a trumpet out of his palms to be better-heard. "I'm really tired, and want to know where's any hotel!"

The silence 'answered' the wizard. Or, it did not do it on its own, making him angry.

"Fine, I'll find it myself" he pouted and sighed.

Natsu travelled half of the seemed-like-abandoned town and finally saw the light coming from one of the windows. He rushed that way and knocked at the door.

"Yes?" the mage heard a small voice from behind the closed door.

"Hello, mister. I am a mage, and can't really find anything in the town, do you have any free place to sleep?" Natsu asked quickly, and when on the other side there was silence, he gasped and added: "Or do you know any hostel?"

"You won't find any hotel here, boy" the voice answered him and the door opened. Natsu saw an old man in a long robe. He seemed ill and tired. "I can allow you to spend one night here, but you must know I do it rarely."

"Um… Okay?" murmured Natsu and grinned out of blue. "Thanks, grandpa!"

The pinkhead entered the house without any ceremony and spotted a sofa on his way. By one look he asked the old man if there was the place he could have slept and when the landlord nodded, the mage hurried to the couch and threw himself on it. Lucy would have waited, for sure. There was no way she could have gone somewhere else since she had been in that town for so long. Natsu smiled slightly. _Just you wait, Luce_. After only a few seconds he was snoring like a bear.

* * *

Futago Kaoru was sitting in his office when Kioymi, the maid, had reported to him that the female guest had changed her place of sleeping.

"Am I supposed to let the guests share one room? Or make Lisanna-sama go back to her chamber?" asked the maid, looking worried and confused. _Hopefully, the master wouldn't blame it on me…_

"Huh? Why? No, that's an interesting change of events. Please, Kiyomi-chan, let them be. I want to see some more… Ah, nevermind." the master smirked and checked her in. The maid left with visible irritation all over her face.

Mr. Futago started thinking about the Fairy Tail wizards. Truth to be said, he had expected Lucy Heartfilia to leave immediately his mansion, and since that Gray boy already had known about the matter, he would have assisted her. On the other hand, it would have been extremely boring. And the woman showed the kind of bravery he had not predicted. Even after the incident from the previous night…. Interesting. Then, show me more of that side of yours, Lucy.

The man called his maid once again. She came immediately, knowing her master did not like to be kept waiting. "Yes, master?"

"I changed my mind on the two mages we have here. Please, do something for me, Kiyomi-chan. I wonder what will they do."

* * *

Gray had been sitting in the library next to the blonde. Not that he had been doing something profitable. Of course, it did not straddle staring at Lucy while she had been reading and analyzing the notes once again. And again. And even once more.

The raven black-haired man could not have helped it but admired her determined and focused expression, which was turning once in a while into the astonished, angry or withdrawal one. It made him wonder about how many faces she had had, and how many of them he had never seen before. And, damn, he was totally interested in knowing them all. Good that Lucy was that immersed in work that she had not noticed Gray's interest. Or so he thought.

Not that she had been so absorbed by the tales and facts she had been reading. Of course, the blonde was forced to pay attention to the cropping up letters and sentences… But she had always been quite perceptive and having the distributable attention surely had helped her a lot. However, being a modest girl deep inside, which part of her character no one would have expected, she decided that Gray was so bored that he had been watching her struggling with the problem… And that was the only reason for him to look at her.

The truth was, Lucy had observed the man since they had come to their actual place of work. His boredom was kind of funny, and once in a while she had noticed him cheering up or frowning. That was making her think of something that could have made him smile and she had always ended on nothing.

The day passed on their quite passive actions and the mages decided to eat the supper earlier and head back to the Gray's chamber. Their good moods had returned when Lucy had told the brunet that she had almost found the place they were looking for. Gray had commented that it was fantastic. He really felt captived in that house, despite it being so spacious and modern, plus with everything he could have dreamed of.

The man let Lucy go first to his room and even let her use the bathroom first. She smiled sweetly and thanked him the way that made his cheeks flush a little. Good that he had learned to control the heat of his blood by his Ice magic, so that the blushes would not have been as noticeable as before. Or as Lucy's. Gray whistled and sat on the window ledge, looking outside.

When he heard that Lucy was out, the brunet jumped out of the window and passed by her. The Ice mage prevented himself from stopping and taking a deep breath next to the woman. She smelled of vanilla and chocolate that time. Without any hesitation, Gray entered the bathroom like crazy, closing the door behind himself with a bump. _Oh,_ _shit_. The room also smelled like vanilla with chocolate. Just a normal smell… So why the hell was he feeling so excited by it? He managed to air the bathroom out and only then he was able to take a bath normally.

However, that was not the end of his adventures that evening. When Gray joined Lucy, he found her with a strange expression.

"Luce, what's wrong?" he asked, scratching his wet hair. He had decided not to dry them in order to stop feeling excited beside his friend. He had hoped that the water would have done the trick, but from the moment he had approached her, he knew it was a failure.

"The bed…" she answered, nervous and suddenly red on her face.

"Oh?" mumbled Gray, catching a glimpse of the piece of furniture and frowning. "I thought that you don't have any problem with sleeping with me, especially when it was _you_ who proposed…"

"No!" Lucy turned to him with wide opened eyes and cheeks covered under her palms. "The sheet… There is only one of them."

"What?" exclaimed the man and looked closer at the done bed. She was right – there was only one sheet. Which meant… _Oh, hell no. No, no, no, no._ He laughed with a note of hysterics and said quickly "You can take it."

"N-no! I wouldn't, that's your room after all…" she stuttered and cleared her throat.

"Don't worry. I'm used to the cold so there's no problem" he sighed and smiled at the Celestial mage, who looked still unsure of that resolution.

All in all, he did not hear the answer and sighed again. They moved on the bed and he delicately removed the sheet to pass his part to her. Nevertheless, when he laid down and turned the light off, Gray felt something soft and light falling on him. _The… The sheet?_ He moved around just to face Lucy, who was laying close to him, under the half of the sheet. Her face was sending hot blows of the heated air onto his torso.

"L-Lucy?"

"S-shut up" she mumbled, closing her eyes. "This is yours. And I won't take it away."

"But…"

"No buts. We're sleeping together, and you've already helped me a lot. So shut up and sleep, baka" Lucy whispered and gazed at him. Gray held the urge to chuckle and only nodded.

The Ice mage closed his eyes, but due to the heat that was coming from Lucy he could not have slept. He finally sighed and asked:

"Are you asleep?"

"N-no…"

"You sure you're feeling 'kay? You're damn hot" he blurted out before he could have thought. Right when he had said those words, his eyes went round and he started to stutter. "I m-mean, those blows of air are reaching me and…"

"I'm sorry. I can't help it" she answered, ashamed of her body's reaction. "And yes, I know it's hot in here."

Gray thought for over a minute, battling with his thoughts and eventually said: "Okay. Come here."

"W-what?!" Lucy almost yelled.

"Shh. Come closer. You're hot, and making me hot, too. H-however it sounds." He licked his lips and continued. "My body temperature is lower than a normal's human. I'd be able to reduce the heat."

To prove his words, he reached his hand and touched Lucy's forehead. She moaned quietly and clung to his hand, saying "Oh, gods! This feels good."

"So, what? Wanna give it a go?" Gray asked and opened his arms for her. Lucy's mind rushed with immoral images, and all the 'fors' and 'againsts'. What made it a god idea? His body temperature. She was terribly hot and she needed something to reduce the temperature. What was more, it was Gray, who she could have trusted. And against? Well, maybe the fact that he was an exhibitionist. She could not have promised not to freak out in the morning if she would have found herself next to him… Nude. And the fact that she liked him and felt attracted to him in the way that a woman is to the man…?

Eventually, the heat which only had grown made her crawl closer to his figure. Gray smiled and embraced her with his arms, placing one hand on her right shoulder and the second one on her back. The blonde purred out of the great feeling going through her whole body and she moved even closer, placing her forehead on his exposed torso. Gray felt a prickle going right under Lucy's skin and he sighed deeply. He was aroused all over again, and he tried to calm himself down, but the manly hormones apparently forgot about the existence of such expression. The aroma of sweetness was overflowing. Gray placed his chin on her head and closed his eyes, at least trying to make his heart beating slow down.

That was definitely the night worth spending. Even if Gray was not able to prevent himself from holding her tight, and Lucy could not have helped it but tangling her leg with one of his. And the best – or the worst? – was that they both thought the other one had been doing it all In the sleep.

* * *

**Gosh, I don't know. What do you think? Any suggestions on the matter of action? ;) Because I am really trying not to rush too much. Although wait for the next chapter ^^ heheh.**

**The spring's finally here in Poland! I really missed the sun and the heat… I mean, who wouldn't be fed up with the winter which lasted HALF OF THE YEAR?! A horror, I tell you.**

**I'd really appreciate it if you could drop a review saying what you think about this chapt :) of course, if you have a moment! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm not Hiro Mashima, or any of his relatives. So, obviously, there's no way for me to own a thing here, right?**

* * *

**.**

Natsu waked up with a strange impression inside of his head, which had been telling him to recall something very, very important. But what could it have been? He had never been good in such matters, meaning remembering important stuff. _I'll ask Happy, he should know_, he thought and yawned monstrously, rolling on the other side on a soft pillow... Soft…?! _Wait a second_.

The man suddenly sat up, completely awaken. That was not his pillow! Neither was it his house. The next thing after the pillow he had noticed was the smell – it was different. Later came the other things – the furniture, even the sheets in which he had slept. Everything, everything was changed!

"Where am I?!" he yelled, catching his head in both hands. At the same moment an old man, the one who had let him into his house last evening, came into the room. When Natsu's eyes turned on him, he just spat out: "Oh. Right."

The pinkhead remembered it then. He was on his way to the house where the Fairy Tail's client was, and Lucy, and Gray, in the strange town with no people, no hotels and no food, and he had been tired… _Too much, too much…_ He had started being in a muddle, until he recalled the last thing. He was going to take Lucy back with him. And away from Gray. His risen hands collapsed on the bed sides.

"Why are you so loud, young boy?" the old man asked with a frown.

"Sorry, Grandpa. I… I had a bad dream" explained Natsu with a forced grin.

"That's all right. If you're hungry, I've prepared a small breakfast for you…" the landlord was not allowed to finish, because Natsu broke into his feet and ran out of the room. The elder sighed and shook his head. _What a noisy youngster_.

"Thanks, Gramps!" Natsu went at the food like he had been starving for over a month. When he had satisfied the first hunger, he turned to the sitting stranger with full mouth. "Gramps, do you know how to get to the big house somewhere around here?"

"Why do you ask?" he answered.

"I need to go there and bring something back."

"A mission, huh?"

"No. A personal matter" the mage replied, grimacing. "And I'd better hurry."

"Why?"

"Because my reason of even being here is there, with a man."

"So, you think it's wise to interact?"

"I don't care" the Fire mage growled; after a second he added: "She's mine. Mine alone."

"Young boy, she sounds like she's your possession" the elder sighed heavily. "There's so much you need to learn… Caring… Sensibility… Respect…"

"But I do respect Lucy!" opposed the mage. "Of course I do!"

"Then why would you make decisions for her? Cannot _she_ make them?" the old man looked at the younger one with seriousness, worry and doubt. "She's a living person. And she should be able to choose what she wants on her own."

"Old man, but I know what's better for her!" Natsu clucked his tongue and returned to eating. The habitant shook his head and thought: _That's what you need to learn, boy. Seems like letting go especially._

* * *

Soon after the treat the Fire mage left the house of the wise stranger and walked away in the direction which he was shown. The old man was standing in front of his door, waving after the Fire Dragon Slayer, smiling a little.

"Stupid youngster" he said to himself after the mage had disappeared from his sight, turned around and walked into the house. "I wonder when he'll notice that he's going in the completely opposite direction, huh… I wish I'd see his face then!"

* * *

.

"Gray, Gray! Wake up!"

"Whatahapan?" the man frowned with closed eyes and put one hand on his forehead, trying to block a sunray falling straight into his eyes. _No, it's too early to get up_…

"GRAY!"

"Sweet Mavis, who's so noisy…" he murmured and moved his arm so that he could have opened one eye. Gray saw Lucy leaning over him, her face definitely getting into his comfort space. He moved skittishly, more of an unconditioned reflex than a willful reaction. "Lucy, what's wrong?"

"I got it! I did it!" she cried with a broad smile, bouncing over him on the doddering bed.

"Wha…"

"The tale! The mystery of the treasure, I know everything!" the blonde clucked her tongue, then she straightened her back, taking her place next to his laying figure and crossing her arms. To top it up, the blonde rose one of her ideally profiled eyebrows. "Aren't you happy? We can leave to seek for it! Even now!"

"Seek for it? I thought you said you knew where it is…" the man sighed and smirked under his nose. "Decide on this one, would you? Meanwhile, I'll take a nap…"

"Stupid Gray! I know where it is" she pouted, reaching out and yanking his shoulder. "So get up, we can leave! L-E-A-V-E! You wanted to do so… Didn't you?"

Unfortunately, Gray did not answer her anymore, in addition he closed his eyes again, making the girl mope. Lucy sighed profoundly and flopped on the bedside. What else could have she done? She came to believe they were not intending to abscond from Mr. Futago's mansion. She had only wanted them to be short... And right then, all the plans were blighted by Gray's sleepiness. _Seriously_… So she spent the whole morning, first of all, crawling out from the bed where she had been sleeping with the man under one sheet noiselessly in order not to wake him up, later she had pored over the books of fairy tales for children, which, nota bene, she had known in rote. Moreover, she had finished flicking through the stories just to pass to the pile of notes.

All in all, it was worth the effort, because by then she knew the almost exact location of the treasure, which Futago Kaoru was after. _But what the crappy hell am I supposed to do with knowledge alone, when Gray prefers to snooze vociferously like that… Just perfect_, the girl thought, hearing a huge snore from the side where the reason of her concern was slumbering.

Only then did Lucy realize that the man was not actually asleep. But it was too late; she shrieked with annoyance when two big hands clenched on her waist and pulled her aback. Then she was lying next to Gray, looking into his grinning face. "Got ya."

"Gray, you idiot! You're lucky that I had realized what was going on before you pulled me…!" she punched him on the arm and spitted out. "Otherwise…"

"Otherwise?" he repeated, cocking an eyebrow.

"Otherwise… Well, I don't know, but otherwise _something_!"

"Wow, Luce, you scared the shit out of me" Gray smirked. "I think I'm afraid to turn my back to you now."

Lucy moaned in desperation and complained: "Why can't I win with you!"

He chuckled and tried to hold a giggle, but it did not really turn out as he had wanted it to. "Anyway." The Ice mage cleared his throat. "What is it you found out?"

"You didn't seem to be interested…"

"Oh, come on! Say, you want me to make you?" he touched his head to hers.

"W-what? No, no" she contradicted nervously and Gray backed away with a smile. "W-well… I've realized that I was wrong. I was focusing on the footnotes in the fairy tales' book and notes made by some previous researchers. But nothing made sense, and, in addition, it wasn't much related to the tale… Strange, huh? But, listen, don't the words: _depth_ and _shadow_ make you wonder? Because I got the original version of the tale… And there was a difference. There's no depth and shadow, but a _cave_ and _water_."

"Oh, yeah?" commented Gray, unable to figure it out himself.

"Yes. So, why are there such differences? It matters, Gray. Do you get it?" Lucy gazed at him, full of hopes and expectation.

"No! Tch. Don't ask me about anything that concerns thinking so early in the morning!"

"Idiot" Lucy sighed while shaking her head. "Anyhow, it was so strange… Yet so obvious! The exact place. The place where the treasure is hidden. You still don't see it? Seriously? Oh, man. So. In the original book, it's written that the place is a cave under water. But, nowadays there is no such place… At least not in that region… And the newer version: depth and shadow."

"But there are many deep places, which are dark" grumbled the brunet.

"Yeah. When you don't have the details. Especially the previous place's description" the Celestial mage turned her dazzling, wide opened eyes on the man.

"Wait. So you say…" Gray sat up, sudden realization fell onto him. "But it's too simple! Why didn't any researcher plow into this?"

"They must have used only the newer versions of tales… It's silly, though. They had the original fairy tale under their noses" the woman smiled widely at his and added: "So, what place like this do you know?"

"Northern Joya… The mountains" whispered Gray.

"Far away" Lucy agreed. "But doable. No?"

"You are a genius!" the male mage cried and tried to hug his companion, which did not go off too well, because Lucy, presciently to what was going to happen, tried to move away from the half-naked man, blushing. At the same time, Gray caught her and when she pulled away, he flew onto Lucy, rolled on the bed and.. Fell from it, hitting the floor hard. "Ough!"

"Gray! Gray, are you all right?!" Lucy asked nervously, staring at him. She was lying on top of him; his body amortized her bump. He slowly opened his eyes and grimaced.

"I've been better."

"Seriously?" she snorted.

Gray smiled a little, then tried to move, but Lucy's weight prevented him from doing that. What was more, he finally realized the position they were in. Especially Lucy's location on his bare torso, and her own chest pressing against his. Even the T-shirt she was wearing did not make any difference... _Goodness, she doesn't wear any bra…_ Gray moaned in his thoughts, blushing. The blonde took it as a moan of pain and quickly crawled off the man.

"Sorry, sorry!" she kept repeating.

"No, it's all right, such is a role of a man" he joked, standing up and picking up the quilt which was lying on the floor. "So, let's prepare ourselves to leave, 'kay?"

"Mhm."

* * *

Two hours later, the mages were ready to leave, all that was left was to bid goodbye to the owner of the mansion, Futago Kaoru. Despite the duress to meet with Mr. Futago, Lucy felt like it had recently been the best day since they had left Fairy Tail. Gray was not feeling that lucky, being tired after convincing the woman to go to their, all in all, client. There was not much to pack up, only a few necessary things and maps of Earthland.

"Are you ready, Luce?" Gray asked when the room became tidy and empty.

"Yeah. Let's go and be past this deniable pleasure."

"Hey. I'm with you" he assured her, and after an instant of hesitation carefully took her hand into his. "See? Just don't freak out."

"I can keep a straight face" she promised and added in thoughts: _At least I hope so. I've never been meeting with a would-be rapist before. Huh, how dreadful._

The brunet nodded and made a move towards the door. The maid, Kiyomi-chan was already waiting for them on the corridor, and when she saw the mages, she bowed down.

"My master anticipates you. Please, follow me."

"How does he anticipate us when we didn't say anything about going away before?" frowned Gray, tightening his hold on Lucy's hand.

"Master knows everything" Kiyomi-chan said detachedly.

"Oi, missy…"

"Gray" Lucy whispered.

The man did not seem too happy, although he did not say anything more to the maid, who led them to the unknown part of the house and left them before some doors, repeating the part about Mr. Futago waiting inside. They were watching her back until she disappeared after a bend and Gray knocked on the door, while Lucy exhaled deeply.

"Come in!"

The Fairy Tail mages came into a spacious room, which looked like a banquet saloon. Mr. Futago was sitting exactly in the middle of the long transversally-positioned table, smiling at the guests. "Welcome, my dear fairies! I suppose you found out the location of the treasure, hmm?"

"Yes, and we'd like to leave immediately" answered Gray.

"I see. So, Gray, and you, _Lucy_, please, take care of my business and come back safely as soon as you can" Mr. Futago smirked evilly and appended: "I assume, you're a couple?"

"I don't see it's any of your concern" replied the Ice mage coldly.

"Oh, really? So I guess I'm right. I hope you liked my little gift, you know, for you to be more comfortable during the night, one sheet!" Kaoru continued. Lucy felt the brunet was becoming more and more stiffen. "Oh, and if you don't mind, Lucy, I should also warn him that you have a bad habit. You know, leaving men several days before wedding and stuff."

"Enough" Lucy growled at the smirking client. "I don't see why you're butting into someone else's business, Kaoru, and I'd appreciate if you'd let us go already. We have nothing more to say to you."

"Oh, I touched the raw nerve?" Futago giggled and stood up. "You may go."

Lucy stopped caring about the semblance and after she wrenched herself away from Gray, she ran out of the room. He followed her steps and caught soon enough. He turned her to himself, holding her arms and commented: "You can keep a straight face, you say?"

"Shut up" she mumbled.

"It could be worse."

"But! His insults are unbearable for me" Lucy cried and broke free from him. "I'm in the room."

The brunet stayed on the corridor, not sure of what had just happened. Did he say something wrong, or it was about the previous thing? And should he follow the blonde to try comforting her, or it was better to leave her alone? All in all, he decided to go after Lucy. Just as expected, he found her in the bathroom, locked.

"Luce, it's me" he said softly.

"Go away, would you?"

"Nah. See, I may not know much about girls, but I think I'd better stay and listen to your complains, or in case you don't wanna talk to me, just make sure you're all right" he sighed and sat down beside the door of the bathroom. On the other side there was silence. A few moments later the lock opened and the blonde went out. She sat down next to Gray and snuffled.

"I bet you have had enough of me lastly, eh?"

"Why?"

"All I do is crying, complaining and running to you when something bad happens. Gray, even I'm tired of myself" she said seriously.

"Ah." Was all he could have said at that moment.

"I'm sorry for being so useless and not strong enough to deal with reality on my own. I even stole your bed, and comforter, and I didn't even count how many times you were on the floor because of me…"

"Lucy." The woman fell silent, ready to receive some deserved wigging. "I don't think you're weak or useless. I don't think that you stole anything from me, or made me feel bad – well, excluding the evening Loke brought you here half-conscious and scared… So, don't worry. I'm fine" Gray tried to pick the right words. He did not want to say anything that he would have regretted later on. "And I want you to be fine. So, why don't we leave this shitty place?"

"Any moment" she answered, smiling at him, then she came closer and kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

"N-no problem" the brunet stuttered and got up, turning away his face. She made him feel so dizzy. Holy crap. "If we hurry up, we'll catch the train."

Lucy smiled, a little sadly, and followed his steps. "Then let's go."

.

* * *

.

It was long after evening when Natsu finally found the mansion he was going to. The old joker made a fool out of him and showed him the wrong way. Woah, not only the wrong way! The completely opposite on! The pinkhead had sworn to get even with him, but… Later. The priorities were the most important right then.

Only then did Natsu enter the mansion, he spotted a maid who was cleaning the porch. He smiled and approached her.

"Oi, miss maid there! Is this the house of Mr. Futago Kaoru?" he asked nicely.

"Hello. Yes, it is. Do you have some business appointment?"

"No, but I'm looking for mages from my guild. A blonde-haired girl, Lucy, and a brunet, Gray. Are they here?"

"No, unfortunately… They left a while ago. But, mister, wait, did you say Lucy? Not Lisanna?" the maid stopped and looked at him carefully.

"Um, yes… Lisanna's white hair" Natsu frowned and crossed his arms. The maid was about to say something more, however, suddenly the front door opened and the mage saw a tall, elegant brunet who was smiling at him. The pinkhead noticed that that smile… There was something scary in it…

"Hello, mage. I am Futago Kaoru. Did I hear it right, you're looking for Lucy Heartfilia and Gray Fullbuster?"

.

* * *

**I'm back. I know you've been waiting for a longer time, but now my final exams at the university are coming and I'm short in time:) however, I'll try to write something sooner. Ne?**

**Thanks so much for ever little review, for every favorite and all the support! I love you, guys.**


	8. Chapter 8

**I don't own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

Lucy was looking outside the window, sitting opposite napping Gray. It was a pleasant change, not being forced to hold anybody's head on her lap, risking her clothes' safety… However, the blonde did not think of such trivial things right then. No. She was contemplating the last words of Mr. Futago before they left, and the warning he had given to Gray…

Was he possibly right? Lucy frowned. She remembered being told that she would have married a good friend of the Heartfilia's family, and she found out it was supposed to be Kaoru… However. Where on earth was there her fault in the whole situation? The families broke their contacts soon enough, and the whole matrimonial thing with the Futagos had been forgotten… Until she had run away from home, and a year later Jude had hired Phantom Lord to find and return her to the Heartfilia Mansion. Her father had told her that the proposition of the marriage had been renewed. Lucy, knowing what to expect, had obviously refused…

It was not like she would have said 'yes' to anyone. But when she had found out that it was Futago Kaoru, she had panicked. She remembered how he had been behaving at the end of their friendship, and how his brother, Haruto, was twice as bad as him. Especially when Haruto had been said to vanish… _Wait_. Lucy's frown deepened. Where and why had he disappeared? There was no reason. And there was no way, unless they had had a fervent family fight. But totally disappearing from the world of leaving… Strange thing.

At that moment Gray snored and a shiver went through his body. Lucy smiled and observed how he started to move lower, and lower… She held a shriek inside and quickly broke into a jump. She made it in time – Gray's head was peacefully leaning on her shoulder, the man still asleep. The blonde sighed and shook her head with a smile. He was simply adorable, with that peaceful face of a sleeping child… She looked closer at his visage and found out about the existence of the details she had never seen before: long, dark eyelashes, very well-formed face and smooth forehead on which his awry, raven black hair were falling onto his forehead… Her heart skipped a beat and blood rushed to her face. The blush went more intensive when his inert head fell on her bust from her shoulder, finding a new comfortable place to rest. His cold breath enfolded her skin under the flimsy fabric, and she shivered.

"U-um, Gray…" she said gently, trying to wake him up by patting his head. But the man was still asleep. Lucy tried once again – without any success. Finally, she gave up and let the man rest there, although the feeling of abashment did not leave her. It was nice, having him so close once again… Even with him intruding her private space.

* * *

In the meantime, oblivious Gray was having a very good dream, in fact, first-classed. He was dreaming of being back at the guild, however, everything was changed. First of all, Juvia Lockster stopped bugging and bothering him, later, there were always ice-cream ready for him to be eaten, and the best part was that he had Lucy, the blonde beauty right next to him. His arm was wrapped around her waist, at which she was blushing slightly. The man was sitting at the table with his girlfriend, smiling widely, with pride. She was _his own_.

When his head fell from Lucy's arm onto her chest – which he could not have known yet – his dream changed into more romantic and comfortable one, where the plot and action were directed in his house. Nevertheless, before he could have gotten to the best part, before he would have done something more than a passionate kissing, the train made such a loud noise that he woke up.

"Geez, what on earth…" he mumbled, but cut off when he realized there was something soft pressing on his cheek, which made it almost impossible to speak. He peeked down and jumped back at once, wide-eyed. Lucy squealed and crossed her arms, which did not really help at that situation. The blood rushed into Gray's veins and hit the cheeks so bluntly that he felt dizzy, as the Ice Mage, he was not used to the boiling blood. "L-Lucy, I… I'm s-sorry, I-I didn't meant to…"

"T-that's all right, you were asleep" she murmured, trying to cover herself. "You could've pooped out about looking at them, though."

"Sorry."

"A-anyway…" she cleared her throat and checked time, letting her arms down. She desperately tried to change the topic, to her surprise, with success. "We have four more hours of ride in here, until we reach Hargeon. There we'll take a ship to Bosco, where we change the ship again, this time to Stella. Later, we have a possibility of either going by a carriage to the borderline of Joya, or go afoot."

"Why only to the borderline?" asked Gray, yawning.

"Because there are mountains, Gray. No carriage will get into the dark and small caves and tunnels" the blonde sighed and smiled. "So, what do we do now?"

"I don't know" he moaned. "It's so hot here, can't think…"

"It is, after all, it's just a public transportation, what did you expect" she giggled. "Besides, can't you do anything about it?"

"Which means?"

"You're so slow! Aren't you an Ice Mage?"

"O-oh" Gray face-palmed himself, embarrassed. He quickly looked around in thought and froze the arm stand on which they were bracing their hands. "Better? I can't freeze all the seats, unless you want to have a wet bottom."

"So much better!" Lucy exclaimed with a rapturous expression, leaning against the stand. "Gray, you're amazing…"

The woman caught herself saying those rash words and blushed. Gray chuckled and answered nothing. Lucy bit her lip, full of beefs. _Stupid girl._

* * *

Natsu was sitting at the table in a spacious, rich saloon, with a bowl of dessert in front of him and the host himself, who was smiling mischievously. Mr. Futago gave him a delicious dinner and by then, it was the guest's turn to speak. Oddly enough, the host was interested only in Lucy, which was a great thing for Natsu, who needed to offload his worries.

"Tell me, Mr. Natsu" Kaoru guided the conversation. "How's Lucy Heartfilia in your opinion?"

"She's a strong, independent mage, and my best friend. She's a nice girl, beautiful, too. Why?"

"And does she ever speak about her past?" the brunet asked, ignoring Natsu's question.

"Nah, not really… I mean, she doesn't like her past, and I accept it."

"Interesting... Because she was the one who caused all the things to happen this way. Very unfortunate way, indeed…"

"What do you mean?" the pinkhead asked sharply. "If you want to talk crap about Luce…"

"So you don't know" Mr. Futago smirked and braced his elbows on the table.

"I ain't gonna believe you." The Dragon Slayer stood up.

"But I insist you listen to me" he said with emphasis. "Just listen."

Natsu made an angered expression, but after thinking shortly about all the possibilities, he nodded shortly and sat back down, crossing his arms and looking intensively at the host. On the other hand, the brunet made himself comfortable like he was going to tell the mage a long, interesting story.

"Good choice you've made, my friend. First of all, seriously, I see no reason for all of you to defend Lucy Heartfilia since no one – well, maybe except for the Gray who was here with her – knows about her shameful past." Natsu groaned, but Futago shook his head and went on. "Yes, shameful! She was a heiress of one of the most wealthy and powerful houses, and she was to marry from the arranged marriage. That lucky guy was supposed to be me. Ahh, how happy I was! My best friend was to become my lady… My partner… However. After a while she forced her father to end the acquaintance with us, the Futagos, because of some garbage reason. They broke the agreement, their promise _and_ the engagement. We received a rather nasty blow, almost went bankrupt and thanks to that my father died. My brother, Haruto, was having a hard time, too, and he decided to leave us for good. I haven't heard of him for some time."

The pink-headed mage was sitting still, only his eyes were squinted and his teeth clenched. Was it the truth? Was Lucy the main reason of that man's misery? Moreover, it seemed that it was far from end.

"What's more, the whole thing was not forgotten. I heard of Jude Heartfilia a few years later, when his Concern begun to crash and he asked me for help. He offered Lucy once again as the price, and he swore that time it'll be successful. I acquiesced to his claims and was waiting patiently for my fiancé to arrive. Haruto, my beloved brother, finally came back. But. Not only did Lucy Heartfilia refuse me once again, but also she crashed the whole family business, which caused her father to sell the mansion and become poor. As for me… I'm looking for a revenge on her. She destroyed not only my soul and heart, but my brother… He died. Because of her" Kaoru stood up with passion burning in his eyes, his hands clenched on the table. "She is the reason why everything's bad. Selfish, ignorant, stubborn brat, who caused so much pain to the people. Annoying idiot, who obliterated everything."

The man ended his speech, panting. He caught a glimpse of Natsu's face, but it was covered under his thick pink bangs. Mr. Futago straightened his back and approached the bar, taking out some whisky and pouring it into two glasses. Then he came back to the table and handed one of them to Natsu.

"You see, Mr. Dragneel. She's not an angel" he said dryly.

Natsu did not accept the glass of alcohol and he stood up. Finally, he spoke up. "I see."

"Oh, really? So…"

"No. Not the things you said. I don't believe it" the mage cut in, looking harshly at the host.

"For real, you're assuming I lie?" Kaoru smirked.

"Yes. And here's the proof" exclaimed the Dragon Slayer. "You have no idea about her. You don't know the most essential things about her – like I do, her best friend. The _real_ one. Firstly, you said Lucy broke her promise."

"Of course, don't be naive…"

"Well, she can't do that. She's a Stellar Spirit Mage, she can't break her promises. This is one of the conditions of being that. So, that's obviously a lie. Secondly. Lucy convinced her father to change his mind?"

"Obviously, having such…"

"Don't go bullshitting. Her relation with father was hard, and they never got along. What's more, he'd never do as she asked him to. That was the reason for her escape from home." Natsu spitted out with gritted teeth. "And lastly. She'd never kill a person."

"Oh, Lucy didn't" Mr. Futago whispered.

"You said…"

"That Haruto died. _Because of_ her. Not that she killed him. At least, not intentionally, that is."

"Anyway. You seem to mistake the Lucy _I_ know, the Lucy she _is_, with some other person" Natsu shrugged his shoulder with a forced detachment.

"You're very confident, Natsu Dragneel. And a very faithful friend" Kaoru commented, putting his glass down. "However. What'd you say if you knew that this girl slept at my house, in _one_ room with her friend, not even a _boyfriend_, Gray, under _one_ sheet? Although I gave her a nice chamber all for herself…? Does it sound like a Lucy you know?"

The Fire Mage felt his heart aching and his insides did some kind of a strange, painful dance. "T-this has nothing to do…"

"Right. But, you know, it's worth knowing" the host smiled evilly and sighed. "I presume you want to know where they are, no? They went to Northern Joya to complete the mission. So, leave whenever you need to. I won't stop you."

"I have no idea what you're planning" started Natsu furiously. "But I won't let you hurt Luce."

"Luce, Luce. Lucy this, Lucy that. You're so blind, people" Mr. Futago yelled, letting his anger overtake him. After a moment, he cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. "I'm sorry. Forgive my inconvenience…"

"Inconvenience? Man, you're a mad ass!" the Fire Mage spitted with a shocked face.

"Maybe" the brunet smiled. "Anger makes us mad, no?"

_Rather a desperate fury_, the pinkhead thought, but did not dare to say it out loud. Not right then, when Futago Kaoru had _such_ look on his face – the look of pure hatred and evilness.

* * *

"Gray, let's stop here" demanded Lucy with a Dantean expression on her face.

The Fairy Tail mages had already travelled halfway, and they were in the middle of a road to Joya, currently at Bosco. Bosco Land was a rather inimical area, half made of deserts and… nothing more. The other half of the country were small, inhospitable hamlets, where people were nowhere to be seen nor heard. At least, for the certain mages. However, the worst for them was not the total wilderness, but temperatures, which had been constantly changing from high, exotic ones to those cool, Arctic-like.

Unfortunately, at the time the blonde's legs refused to make any more effort, they were at one of those deserts. There was not a single house or even a shack nearby. No wonder that Lucy spent the whole evening and the following night in some jackets and sweaters delivered by Virgo, stuck inside of Horologium with a bitter expression and guilt inside of her heart. She had been constantly apologizing to Gray – through her Celestial Spirit, which was repeating patiently every word – who preserved with saying '_That's all right_'. With that, as expected of the Ice Mage, he was able to get over the coldness and slept under the wide, dark sky. He firmly refused some clothes which Virgo carried just for him from the other world, and lied down next to the small fireplace.

The night was long and cold. Moreover, some of the desert animals and creatures got interested in the heat from the fireplace and the smell of another living organisms. Gray was forced to wake up quite often to exorcize the approaching shadows, which finally led to the decision of staying awake for the time being. And so the brunet was on sentry duty until Loke did appear in order to change him. Needless to say that Gray accepted the proposition with gratitude and lied down closer to the fireplace.

In the morning Loke woke Lucy and Gray up, telling them with a smile about a brand new day and the sun, which had just showed up on the horizon. Groaning, the Fairy Tail mages sat up. Loke made sure they were okay and disappeared with a small _bump_.

"Are you hungry?" asked Lucy when her eyes got used to the daylight.

"No, you know, Luce, I ate some air and sand, that's all I need" answered sarcastically Gray, rolling his eyes. "Of course, we've been on a deadly diet since yesterday's morning. And I can't say I like it."

"Sorry for caring" she pouted. "Anyway, here. Virgo was here a moment ago, delivering some sandwiches made by her in the Spirit World."

"Thanks!"

They ate in silence, then decided to move on, knowing that in the evening they were supposed to get to the destination of their excursion. Oh, if only they had known what was going to happen…!

* * *

**I SUCK. I've never, ever had such a hard time trying to write anything! I blame it on the summer holiday and a tryumphatic pass of the exams at the university, but don't believe it :P I'm just lazy. So, sorry for another broken deadline and wait for the chapter!**

* * *

**Another not-too-happy information – I'm going at the cottage, where I have no civilization, no Internet and nothing more than a TV. So, I don't know when will the next chapter be. HOLIDAY!**


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